Whispers in the dark
by Darkloverkitsune
Summary: Sasuke brought him to his private room. He could hear the others whispering behind the closed door. Hinata was crying. They all thought he was going to finish him off. Of course they would think that. SasuNaru vampire fic. Rewritten.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Shallow vampire

It was difficult for Sasuke to concentrate on his reading. The room was dark – he only had the light of one small candle on his desk - but that was not the issue. His supernatural sight allowed him to see just fine. Shikamaru and Kiba were being so damn loud as they kept arguing for no reason. They were immortal yet they seemed to have the maturity of little children, in Sasuke's opinion anyway.

"Stupid fucking game!" Kiba cursed, throwing the chess game on the floor in frustration while Shikamaru stared.

"Actually, there was a possibility for you to win, if you had moved your knight here..." Shikamaru started explaining.

"Shut up!" Kiba yelled. "I don't want to hear it!"

Sasuke sighed and closed his book, giving up on trying to focus on the elaborate storyline. He glanced around the living room. He had decorated himself. There was an old but still functioning piano, some renaissance paintings on the blood red walls and ornate black furniture. The house had this dark and gothic vibe to it.

He glanced at his two friends – more like acquaintances really, who happened to be living with him but that was a long story. Kiba still looked pissed that he had lost some game, and Shikamaru was lying down on the black leather couch, his hand thrown in his messy long brown hair.

"Where are the girls?" Sasuke asked.

"They went to some after party… with some dudes..." Kiba said, rolling his eyes.

Sasuke glared at him from across the room. Kiba flinched.

"You know I don't like it when you leave these two alone," Sasuke said.

Shikamaru turned his head to look at him and he spared Kiba the trouble of answering that. "Relax Sasuke. They won't do anything crazy."

Sasuke wasn't worried for the girls themselves. Rather, he was afraid they would do something stupid. For instance, last time one of the girls – Sakura - had been hunting alone, she ended up killing some guy because she couldn't stop drinking his blood until it was too late.

Of course, she had come back crying and begging Sasuke to do something, anything. And obviously, there was nothing much Sasuke could do, except do all the dirty work himself. Sakura being so useless, he'd had to destroy the body, erasing all evidence of what had taken place. He could've sent Kiba or Shikamaru to do it but… Kiba probably wouldn't have done a proper job, and Shikamaru, that lazy ass, would've spent the whole time arguing about how troublesome it all was.

Kiba said, "Hinata's with her this time. So… don't worry too much."

It seemed Kiba had been thinking the same thing. Sasuke ignored him. He couldn't help having a bad feeling, and he didn't need Kiba's lame attempts at reassuring him. He sighed and ran long pale fingers through his raven locks. He went to sit at the piano to play one of his compositions. It soothed him. Kiba and Shikamaru left the room because they knew he didn't like being listened at.

Toward the end of the piece he improvised a little, trying to take his mind off things by losing himself in the soft, somewhat melancholic notes. Throughout his long existence, he had learned how to play many instruments, but piano had always remained his favorite.

Despite the music calming his nerves his thoughts kept haunting him. He knew Hinata was reasonable, even though she was the youngest vampire of their group. She was so sensitive that she forced herself not to hurt anyone. She preferred animal blood most of the time – Sasuke knew of very little vampires who could pull that off. Basically, it was better than no blood at all, but he could honestly say it was the foulest thing he had ever tasted.

But the reason he was so stressed out was because of Akatsuki. They were the highest and most dangerous vampire organization out there. Their power and influence had gotten to their heads and they were out of control, adding one ridiculous rule after another, and killing any vampire who disobeyed. Well, lately it seemed they were killing any vampire whose face they didn't like.

Sasuke suddenly stopped playing and his whole body tensed. He felt Sakura and Hinata's presences, but there was someone else with them; a human. As he got up and walked to the hall, Shikamaru and Kiba joined him. Seconds later, the door opened violently and Hinata threw herself in Kiba's arms, bloody tears running down her pale white cheeks and her long black hair a mess.

"I couldn't do it!" She choked out between sobs. "I couldn't stop drinking… his blood! Oh God…"

Kiba frowned, but he wrapped his arms around her to try and calm her down.

Sasuke brought his attention to Sakura. She walked inside, carrying someone on her back. She threw him on the floor then kicked the door shut with her high heel clad foot. She sleeked out her short red dress and long pink hair before looking up.

"Sasuke, I told her that we should just finish him off and take care of the body but..."

"No!" Hinata yelled.

Sakura sighed. "But she wouldn't let me." She smiled and stepped closer to Sasuke. "I can do it if you want. I can repay for my previous mistakes." She raised a hand to touch Sasuke's face but he smacked it away.

"Just shut up." He finally looked down at the unconscious guy. He couldn't be very old. He had lost a lot of blood…

"Hinata," Sasuke called and the trembling and sobbing girl pulled away from Kiba's embrace to step in front of him obediently.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I don't want him to die."

She sounded so sincere. She was such a unique being. No other vampire would care so much for a human life. Sasuke's expression softened, which didn't happen very often to say the least. But he knew that it was too late to save this guy's life – his human life anyway.

Sasuke put a knee down next to him and he slid his arms under him to lift him up. It was very easy for him as he had unbelievable strength and this guy weighed nothing. He couldn't be much more than eighteen years old. There were fang marks on his neck and the blood stained his skin and blond hair. Even though he wasn't thirsty at the moment, this guy's blood was tempting. But he had enough self control.

So he brought him to his private room. He could hear the others whispering behind the closed door. Hinata was crying. They thought he was going to finish him off. Of course they would think that.

For some reason Sasuke didn't feel like it. Instead he cut his own pale wrist with his fangs and let a few drops of his old supernatural blood pour down onto the guy's lips, and into his mouth. He was curious to see if this would work.

He only had to wait a few seconds. Soon he heard a very weak moan and blue eyes fluttered open. Sasuke just looked at him for a moment. Truth be told, he was quite good looking.

This was such an idiotic decision; a whim, really. But he cut his wrist again – deeper this time – and offered it to him.

"Just drink it," Sasuke locked eyes with him. "If you don't want to die."

He must have been convincing enough because the human pressed his lips closer to the pale wrist and let the blood fill his mouth. He was too weak at first, but slowly he managed to lift his hand to hold Sasuke's wrist. His eyes were closed now, and he furrowed pale eyebrows slightly as he drank hungrily. This was a normal reaction. Sasuke had done this before.

But there was something that needed to be done if this was going to work. The supernatural blood was like a poison. If Sasuke only gave him some of his blood, then this guy would die anyway before the end of the night.

So he pulled back his wrist, the human's weak grip not nearly enough to keep him close. Blurry blue eyes looked at him. He was drunk on his blood. Sasuke bared his fangs at him and the guy flinched – it seemed he still had enough sanity in there to be afraid of him. But Sasuke was trying to save him.

"I have to drink your blood, too…" He whispered, looking at the flawless, pale brown skin on the side of the neck that Hinata hadn't touched. In a split second he bit him and started drinking. The blond guy tried to push him away but there was nothing much he could do.

The supernatural blood was a poison, and their mixed blood was the antidote. Sasuke couldn't drink from him before; it would have finished him off. But he was positive this would work anyway.

When he pulled away it was clear the guy was feeling dizzy again. Sasuke had his arm around his shoulder and he held him up.

"What's your name?"

"Um, whoever and whatever the fuck you are…" He said defiantly, yet his voice was still weak, "Mind telling me what the fuck's going on?"

"I'm trying to save your life… Do you want some more of this?" Sasuke flashed his fangs again before cutting his own wrist, just like before.

"Yeah," he said drunkenly, "I mean, I'm probably dreamin' but… this shit is like a fucking drug, like, morphine or something… It makes me feel so…" He licked Sasuke's bloody wrist.

"Good?" He offered, a hint of a smile on his lips.

He was ignored. The guy was just drinking his blood again. Soon it would be over. But for now, Sasuke let him have as much as he wanted.

Even though he probably had absolutely no clue what was happening, but his body was undeniably already craving the powerful blood that would make him strong. The more blood Sasuke gave him, the stronger he would be.

Sasuke could feel his friends tense and basically freak out in the hallway. They could smell his blood and they were probably wondering if he had gone mad. But he couldn't care less at the moment, he was enjoying this. That guy was hot, and he had attitude. Hinata had good taste. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea.

He hadn't done this in a very long time. There were rules against this, of course. Akatsuki, these crazy bastards, were supposedly regulating all new vampires. You couldn't just turn whoever you wanted without asking them, or they would go out of their way to destroy you for disobeying. Apparently there were too many vampires in the world already, so if you wanted to change someone, you needed their approval. How stupid was that? What reason was better than another? Oh hey, this is my human girlfriend, can I please change her so we can have amazing vampire sex? Really now. They probably never gave their approval anyway.

And in cases like this, when it was almost too late for a human, well there was simply no time.

He stopped drinking. He tried to say something but the words seemed to be stuck in his throat. Sasuke pulled away from him to let him sleep this off. Those blue eyes looked at him for a little longer then they were squeezed shut as he turned to his side and held his waist. Yeah, the transformation wasn't always a pleasant experience. This would take some time.

The window in his bedroom had a wide enough lower frame, where he sometimes liked to sit. So he lifted himself up there, pulling up one leather clad leg and folding it as he stared at the moon. He glanced at him but he was deep into sleep now. Waiting was the only thing left to do. Dawn wasn't far now.

Sasuke heard a knock on the door. It was Shikamaru. Only he was foolish enough to disturb him.

"Come in," he said.

Shikamaru opened the door slowly. "The others already went to sleep."

Sasuke barely nodded, drifting his black gaze out the window again. He liked watching the sunrise, until it started to hurt his skin anyway. There was some more time left before he needed to shut the blinds and thick black curtains.

Shikamaru looked at the sleeping form and sighed. "What the fuck did you do?"

Actually Shikamaru didn't seem to be mad at him, he probably just found the situation beyond troublesome.

"You gave him a lot, didn't you?" Shikamaru said simply when Sasuke wasn't answering.

Sasuke looked at him, but still he said nothing. He wasn't very big on conversation, especially when he was annoyed. He didn't want to talk about this right now. Shikamaru was asking stupid questions. Of course he had given him a lot. If he was going to make a vampire, then he was going to do it right.

Eventually he said, "I'll deal with the consequences, so don't worry about it."

Shikamaru crossed his arms. "So why did you do it?"

"Felt like it," Sasuke answered, averting his gaze.

Shikamaru just stared. "You felt like it? All right, I'll admit Hinata was a heart breaking sight tonight but this…" he pointed vaguely at the bed, where Naruto seemed rather pale now, "this is so…"

"Troublesome?" Sasuke finished for him. "Yeah, I know. Now get the fuck out."

His friend just shook his head in disbelief, but he did as he was asked. He wasn't too offended; he was used to Sasuke's mood swings by now.

After he had left and closed the door, Sasuke secured the window so that no light could slip inside. Then he went to lie down on the king sized bed, next to the guy he had just given a whole new life to.

_Author's note:_

_Nothing much changed in the first chap but a lot more changes in the rest... All that stuff that didn't make sense or that people didn't like in the first story, well, that's not gonna happen here of course. _

_Oh and if you're a new reader, cool! That's awesome. See ya next time_

_(And about my story Fire and ice, if you care, it's kinda on hiatus right now. I was working on Whispers in the dark this summer and found this on my computer so I decided to re-upload on the meantime)_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

This is real

Kiba was rather lazy, pretty much always the last to wake up, late in the evening. Well, he shared that habit with Shikamaru. Possibly the only thing they agreed on. Sleeping was just awesome. Best thing ever.

So Kiba woke up remembering what had taken place last night. Sasuke had changed that guy for some reason… What a fool. Of course, he would never say that to Sasuke's face. He didn't want to die. But still, he couldn't help but think that Sasuke had done such a stupid thing. He knew the rules, and the risks.

But no matter what, Kiba remained loyal to Sasuke. The truth was, Sasuke had saved both his life and Hinata's, some twenty years ago. Kiba had fallen in love with this beautiful young human girl; Hinata, of course. Oh he didn't want to change her into a vampire, not right away, anyway. But she had gotten into a horrible car accident and at the hospital they did what they could but it was too late. Hinata's body was plugged to a machine that allowed her to breathe but she was in a coma. So Kiba had taken her away and made her into a vampire.

Of course, he had broken all the rules; showing up at the hospital, stealing Hinata away, changing her without permission... those Akatsuki bastards were after them in no time. They were like the FBI or something. Special vampire agents.

So with Hinata they ran away, like fugitives, but they were eventually captured.

As they were about to be executed - burned, to be exact - Sasuke saved their asses. Shikamaru was also there, but later he admitted to Kiba that he was against the idea, and that he had helped out only because he didn't want Sasuke to go on his own.

Sasuke had some sort of history with a few Akatsuki people; they were from the same ancient family if Kiba had gotten it right. He had asked Sasuke about it a few times, but his questions were rarely answered, so he didn't know the details. Basically, Sasuke had probably saved him and his girlfriend more to piss off said Akatsuki people than anything.

Still, the fact remained that Sasuke had risked his life for them, and Kiba would forever be grateful.

He closed his eyes, and tensed as he could feel Hinata's pain. She was very upset. Kiba frowned as he got up, making his way to the common room to see what was going on.

She sat on the black leather couch all alone, with her arms wrapped around her knees, crying. Kiba sat beside her and put his arm around her.

"It's... my fault..." Hinata managed to whisper between sobs.

"It's okay," he replied in a soft voice, pulling her closer. "Shit happens..." He wasn't really good at comforting people.

Still, she relaxed in his hold and calmed down a little.

"Where are the others?" He asked.

He could feel Shikamaru's presence nearby, probably still in his bedroom, and also that stranger whose body was filled with Sasuke's blood now. But he couldn't sense Sasuke or Sakura's presence...

"I think... they went to the hospital to steal some blood… For, well, you know..." She started crying again.

Sakura used to be a nurse when she was human. She used that experience as a cover to sneak into hospitals or clinics and steal some blood once in a while. It was wrong, sure, but it was better than killing innocent people.

Shikamaru appeared in the room then. Kiba exchanged a knowing glance with him. Hinata was still very upset.

"She shouldn't be here when he wakes up," Shikamaru said.

Kiba nodded. "Yeah, I know. But I don't want her to be alone…"

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Hinata pulled away from him and wiped her tears, staining her pale hands.

"I'm just saying," Shikamaru spread his arms, "you're just gonna cry even more when he shows up and that's gonna freak him out…"

Kiba rolled his eyes. Shikamaru was kind of blunt sometimes… But Hinata surprisingly nodded and got up.

"I'll go for a walk or something…"

"Go with her Kiba," Shikamaru muttered, "I mean I really don't want to have to deal with this shit but she can't be alone right now. Fuckin' Sasuke… man what am I supposed to do now?"

"You know what Shikamaru, just go with Hinata. You guys take a walk or whatever. I'll stay here. I don't mind. I'm younger so I remember how it feels to, you know, wake up like this." He pointed at himself and smiled, flashing his fangs.

"You sure?" Shikamaru asked but he was already heading for the door.

Kiba nodded. Hinata sent him a grateful look and left with Shikamaru. Now left alone, Kiba sighed, as he turned his gaze in the direction of Sasuke's room. He supposed it could be a way to repay his debt to Sasuke.

He decided to go see him, since he had nothing better to do. He hadn't gotten a good look at him last night. He made his way to Sasuke's bedroom and opened the door quietly.

He was still asleep. His messy pale hair clashed against Sasuke's navy sheets. He wore baggy jeans and orange t-shirt. Well, Sasuke surely hadn't been charmed by this guy's fashion sense. There were blood stains on the t-shirt; probably from when Hinata had bitten him, Kiba thought, because Sasuke would never make such a mess.

Kiba returned to his room and picked up a small blue v-neck t-shirt from his dresser. It had some famous brand name on it – a gift from Hinata, and Kiba never really wore it. She just kept on shopping and buying him stuff, but really, he didn't need more clothes. Women.

Back in Sasuke's bedroom, he threw the blue t-shirt on the bed and then he stepped closer to the window to pull open the curtains. The moonlight flooded inside the large room. Kiba looked at the sky and waited a little while.

As he had guessed, it didn't take too long for the blond guy to wake up. His eyes opened and he lifted himself up on his elbows as Kiba watched him wearily. But he seemed harmless for now. He was just looking around the room in amazement, taking in the supernatural eye sight. Kiba remembered. It felt just like going from being completely blind to seeing for the first time; so many details and colors that didn't seem to exist before.

Kiba smiled. "Pretty awesome, huh?"

He looked up at him for the first time and he frowned, crawling away in the bed in fear.

"Who are you? Where is this?" He said in a raspy voice. He was most likely very thirsty.

"I'm Kiba," he introduced himself. "And this is Sasuke's house. That's the guy who, um, saved your life last night… if you remember."

Something flashed across his blue eyes and he jumped up to his feet. At the same time, his hand went flying up to his neck. His eyes widened as he seemed to indeed remember most of his night.

"What the fuck…?"

"What's your name?" Kiba asked.

The guy just stared. Okay…

"All right, listen, um… this isn't gonna be easy, but I'm gonna try to explain what happened, okay?"

He brought his fingers to his new fangs and flinched.

"You're different now," Kiba tried, "you understand that much right?"

Now he looked down at himself and seeing the dried blood on his shirt seemed to freak him out even more than he already was.

"Just put this on," Kiba pointed at the clean t-shirt on the bed.

He hesitated but soon took off his orange shirt, practically tearing it apart in the process – new born vampires sometimes had trouble controlling their strength. He did as he was told and threw on the blue shirt. Well, Kiba thought, if he was obedient enough, Sasuke would tolerate him like he did the rest of them.

"Okay, so… let me put this in a way that you'll understand, um…" Kiba scratched his shaggy brown hair. "Vampires exist. It's not just in shitty books and movies. It's actually real. I'm a vampire. And so are you now."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me…" he muttered and then he stormed out of the room.

In no time Kiba was behind him, and he grabbed his arm. He couldn't let him go.

"Listen to me new guy," he said harshly, "I'm just trying to help you. You can't go out there. Where are you gonna go, huh? I'm sorry but we don't just sparkle in the daylight. This is reality. Our skin burns and we die."

"You're insane!" He shouted, "Let me go you freak!"

He tried to pull away but Kiba held his arm very tightly. New guy – Kiba decided he was calling him that - looked into his eyes and he seemed unsure.

"I'm not lying," Kiba said. "You've got to hear me out."

He eventually calmed down a little, so that was an improvement. Kiba let go of his arm when he saw that he wasn't trying to escape any longer.

"I'm so thirsty," New guy said weakly, like he couldn't help himself any longer.

"They're gonna be back with… something for you very soon," Kiba said. He didn't want to say blood.

But New guy seemed to understand what he meant. Of course, he was craving it. He leaned back against the wall, in between two of Sasuke's creepy renaissance paintings, and let himself crawl down to the floor. He pressed his hand to his face and brought his knees to his chest.

"What the fuck is happening to me."

"I told you," Kiba sighed, "he saved your life but that comes with a price. You were dying all right? It was the only way. Apparently he decided you were worth saving for whatever reason."

"He?"

"Sasuke," Kiba explained, "he's… he's not usually… a very nice guy. Well he's got his good sides, I guess. Anyway, you'll see for yourself."

"What did he do to me?" New guy asked, his body trembling in shock. "Where is this anyway?"

"Middle of nowhere," Kiba chuckled, "but it's not so bad. About an hour drive to the city. And I told you, Sasuke saved your life by giving you his blood. That's how it works. You're like us now. I know it's not easy to take in but you're gonna have to accept it sooner or later. I'm just trying to warn you here. If you piss him off, Sasuke might change his mind about you. So you'd better get a hold of yourself man."

"Easy for you to say!" New guy exploded, staring at him harshly as his hands gripped his knees tightly. "I'm freaking the fuck out here. I feel like I'm going crazy! I want to drink… I want to… I…" his voice died in his throat. He indeed looked like he was losing it. Kiba didn't know what to do.

"It'll get better," he said lamely. "I promise… as soon as you drink some blood you'll think more clearly."

"Why didn't he just let me die?" New guy frowned and he entangled his hands in his messy blond hair, almost ripping it off. "I can't… I can't breathe…" He brought one hand to his chest, clutching the thin fabric of the shirt. His eyes lidded and he dropped one leg. His breathing was difficult. Kiba was starting to freak out. He had forgotten just how badly a new born vampire needed blood.

He looked at the door but no one was coming. Sasuke and Sakura were late, damn it. Kiba sighed, tapping his foot on the hardwood floor nervously.

"I'll give you mine," he decided.

New guy didn't even hear him. He was probably lost in his insanity or something. Kiba took pity in him and he didn't know what else to do.

"Should help," Kiba whispered as he put down one knee and leaned closer.

He tore open his wrist with his fangs and offered it. Well this was awkward. Vampires didn't usually exchange blood with one another, except for the transformation. It was considered intimate, in fact. But it would help him and Kiba was out of ideas here.

New guy hesitated, but not very long. He grabbed Kiba's arm and harshly sank his fangs in the skin.

"You're a feisty one aren't you?" Kiba said, annoyed. This was rather unpleasant. But this was partly Hinata's responsibility so he felt obliged.

He eventually pulled back his wrist though. It wasn't that easy. New guy clung to it like his life depended on it, tearing at the skin some more. Kiba actually had to grab his hair and yank him away.

"That hurt you son of a bitch."

New guy glared at him as he licked his lips, wanting every drop. His blue eyes seemed clearer already, like he had regained some of his senses at least.

"Aren't you gonna at least thank me?" Kiba asked as he got up to his feet.

New guy jumped up as well and he turned his head, looking at the door. Before Kiba could react, he sprinted towards it. At the last minute, as New guy slowed down to open the door, Kiba caught up to him and grabbed his arm. But that little fucker swung his fist and hit Kiba in the face, hard. Then he pushed him away and ran away in the night.

Kiba was after him in no time, the skin of his face already healed. But that guy was fast…

"How can you be faster than me you little shit?" Kiba increased his speed as much as he could. Well, Sasuke was the fastest vampire he had ever met, and New guy had his blood in him, so maybe that was why.

Kiba had an advantage though; he knew his surroundings. They indeed were in the middle of nowhere, living in the mountains. New guy wouldn't go very far before realizing he was completely lost.

Using the ability to sense another being's presence, Kiba eventually located him. As expected, he hadn't gone very far. He was leaning against a tree, with a hand pressed to his forehead. He stared at Kiba as he approached very slowly, like he was trying to tame a wild animal. He didn't want New guy to start running away again, because really, it was getting annoying.

He decided to ask a question, to try to get him talking a little.

"What do you remember about last night?" Kiba asked.

There was a moment of silence. They could hear a few small animals moving in the depths of the woods, and the cool breeze rustling the trees. New guy took a shaky breath.

"I… went to a bar, with some friends from school," he started.

"And what happened at the bar?" Kiba encouraged him.

"We met some girls," New guy frowned, "One had pink hair…"

"Sakura," Kiba explained, "she likes to dye her hair weird colors. Also she can be a bitch sometimes."

"The other one, with the long black hair, she… danced with me."

"That's Hinata. She's, you know, my girlfriend so I might as well tell you to back off right away."

New guy shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away.

"You think I care about that?" He said, "You really think, after everything that happened to me, I care that she's your girlfriend?"

"I was just trying to lighten the mood so shut the fuck up," Kiba replied angrily. This guy was starting to piss him off.

"I don't remember anything after that," New guy said, his voice becoming weak again, "Except when… when that… guy… he… I don't even know what he did… I mean what was that all about…?" He muttered more to himself.

"Look," Kiba sighed, "Please don't blame Hinata, she made a mistake and she drank your blood and she couldn't stop. I'm sure you know how that feels now, after drinking from me, right? Anyway, she brought you here and she was crying and panicking and I don't know… Sasuke decided to change you to save your life. That's it! I don't know what else to tell you. You're just gonna have to accept it sooner or later…"

"Accept what?" He laughed, staring at him again, "That I'm a… a what? A vampire? You know how ridiculous that sounds?"

"Yeah. I know. Been there. But what else do you wanna call it? We can't go out in the sun, so we live at night. We need to drink blood to survive. We don't grow old or get sick. If we get stabbed or even shot by a bullet we get weak but we heal. Our only true weakness is fire. So yeah we don't sleep in coffins or anything and we don't give a fuck about garlic or crosses or whatever the fuck else but I'd say we're still pretty close to calling ourselves vampires. Any other questions?"

New guy held his gaze. After a moment of silence he said, "You don't grow old."

"Nope," Kiba shrugged, "pretty cool right? I was nineteen when I got changed, what, like, fifty years ago now. What about you, how old are you?"

"Eighteen."

Kiba nodded quietly. They seemed to be pretty much the same height – Kiba was 5'9 – and weight. Maybe New guy was a little skinnier.

"You're the youngest," he commented, "from what I know, Sasuke was twenty, Shikamaru twenty one, Hinata was nineteen just like me, and Sakura was twenty two. We were all pretty close in age I guess."

"Who's Shikamaru?"

"I'll introduce you later." Kiba took a few steps closer. New guy tensed so he stopped.

"So this is real?" New guy asked, frowning.

"Did you notice how fast you were running earlier?" Kiba arched a brow. "And how crazy you got when you drank my blood? And you're asking if this is real?"

He still looked unsure.

Kiba suggested, "Just, I don't know, climb a tree, or something. See what happens."

New guy glanced at the tree behind him. It only had one lower branch, and still it didn't look like an easy one to climb.

"Just do it!" Kiba encouraged him.

So he did. Even though he was freaking out, deep down, he was probably still a little curious. Well, he was surprised by his new strength that was for sure. He managed to climb the tree all the way to the top. Kiba smirked as he looked up at him. New guy was looking at the stars and the moon. The sight was amazing with their supernatural sense. Kiba knew the feeling of discovering all of this.

Personally, he'd been lucky enough to have a great woman there with him to help him come to terms with his new life. It was always better for a maker to teach them everything themselves. But obviously Sasuke didn't care much about that… So Kiba was stuck with this one for now.

As New guy tried to climb down he slipped and fell all the way to the ground harshly. It was a fall that could easily kill a normal human. But Kiba wasn't worried.

Sure enough, New guy got up and he seemed completely freaked out by the fact that he wasn't harmed.

"Okay, seriously," he looked down at himself, then his eyes slowly met Kiba's, "What the hell?"

"Haven't you ever read vampire stories? Or seen movies, anything? Most of the time they get a bunch of stuff wrong. But I think they always cover the part where we're immortal pretty accurately."

New guy just shook his head, looking away. He seemed nervous.

"I'm not the nicest guy out there," he whispered, "I'm really not. Don't even know how I got into college, but I'm not passing any of my classes, and I'm a jerk to my teachers, got a shit job and can't even pay rent most of the time… My life is a mess." He closed his eyes, "But this… this is just…"

"What?" Kiba asked.

New guy opened big blue eyes again and they were utterly sad. "I don't know what's your deal... But I don't want to kill people. I don't want to hurt anyone or drink their blood or…"

"Yeah that's pretty much the downside," Kiba admitted, "but you'll get used to it. You'll see, you won't have to hurt anyone. It's actually a good thing that you think that way. Too many vampires are willing to just kill innocent humans nowadays, as long as they cover it up well enough…"

"That's horrible," New guy looked down sadly. "I… honestly I don't think I can do it… even if… we need it to survive or whatever… I mean I don't want to believe it but I guess I've got no choice. I'm actually… thirsty… for it… it's insane and I don't understand it but…"

"You don't have to explain yourself," Kiba shrugged, "I know what you mean, believe me."

"I'm Naruto by the way."

"Nice to meet you."

"What's your name again? Sorry I'm not good with names."

"It's Kiba."

"All right… So what now?"

"Now you follow me back to the house," Kiba said carefully, "where you can ask your questions and be pissed all you want at Sasuke, because what's happening to you is his fault, not mine. Although if you don't want him to kill you – cause we _can_ be killed – I'd suggest you try not to get on his bad side."

"Why?" Naruto said defiantly, crossing his arms and leaning his weight on one leg, "Why would he save me if only to kill me afterwards? That doesn't make much sense."

"Don't ask me okay?" Kiba sighed, annoyed, "Sasuke is… he's fucked up, okay? That's all you need to know. Now follow me."

They walked back to the house. Kiba didn't feel like running, and neither did Naruto, apparently. It took some more time like this. Their running speed had been quite intense earlier, and they'd gone further in the woods than Kiba had thought.

When they did get back, Kiba could sense a dark presence; Sasuke of course. Apparently he wasn't too happy. Vampires could sense these sorts of things, especially if they were used to someone's company. Kiba wasn't unfamiliar with Sasuke's mood swings… It could get scary.

"What?" Naruto asked when he stopped.

"Can't you feel it?"

Naruto frowned. Well, of course he could feel it. This was Sasuke they were talking about, and they shared the same blood now. There was always a bond between a new born and his maker. They could sense each other's emotions, and feelings. Well, Kiba kind of felt for Naruto here. Personally, he was damn glad he hadn't been changed by Sasuke, because he really didn't need to share his angst and general hatred of the world.

Naruto seemed disturbed by what he was feeling. "He's in there isn't he?"

"Yeah," Kiba said, "um, look, just don't do anything stupid, don't insult him, don't… just don't say anything for now okay?"

"I'm not scared of him," Naruto ignored his warning and ran inside the house.

"Oh boy," Kiba was after him.

Inside the house the atmosphere was quite dark and tense, well, even more so than usual.

"Kiba." Sasuke glared at him from the hall, near the living room entrance.

Kiba stepped forward, moving in front of Naruto. He could see that Shikamaru and Hinata were sitting on the large black couch. Sakura was standing next to Sasuke.

"What's up?" Kiba replied, trying to keep his voice calm. Sasuke had never actually tried to kill him. But he had gotten truly mad a few times, and it hadn't been pretty.

Unfortunately for Kiba, this was one of those times.

Naruto clearly wanted to ask questions but Sasuke completely ignored him and before anyone else could say a word, he was on Kiba, grabbing his collar and shoving him in the wall so harshly that the house trembled. Sasuke's eyes were black and terrifying as they seemed to stare right into his soul. Kiba tried to push him away but Sasuke's grip was way too strong.

"What were you thinking?" Sasuke said in a low, threatening voice. "You gave him your blood."

"I was just trying to help…" Kiba started but Sasuke tightened his grip on his throat and Kiba couldn't breathe. He could hear Hinata protest but he didn't avert his eyes from Sasuke's glare.

"And then you went outside… Akatsuki could be here any time. You really want to be an easy target, huh? Out there in the open?"

He loosened his grip just enough so that Kiba could catch his breath and speak up.

"Hey he fucking ran away," he pointed toward Naruto weakly, "I was just going after him. And I gave him blood because there was nothing else I could do! You should've seen him, he looked like he was gonna die or something! What was I supposed to do? Your fault for not being here you asshole!"

The silence was heavy in the house. Kiba was scared out of his mind but surprisingly Sasuke let go of him and he fell to the floor, rubbing his painful neck. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, who did seem a bit intimidated now. But he held his ground. Sasuke stepped closer. He was taller but only by a few inches. Sasuke wasn't intimidating because of his height or weight or anything like that – in fact he was rather skinny. It wasn't the fact that he always wore black, bad ass outfits either. He just had this dangerous aura, there was no other way to explain it. Well, truth be told, it was all in the eyes. Sasuke's big gray eyes were scary. They changed color sometimes. When he was mad, they were darker, black almost, and seemed to pierce right through you.

Rendered weak by his stare, Naruto took a step back reflexively.

"What do you want from me?"

"You should thank him." Sakura stepped forward when Sasuke didn't answer. "He saved your life! He gave you this gift and he didn't even have to! You should be grateful and…"

"Sakura," Sasuke snapped without looking at her, "leave. All of you leave."

Kiba got up and went to take Hinata's arm. "Come on let's go," he said quietly.

Sakura reluctantly followed them, as they all retreated to their respective rooms. It was time for Sasuke to face the consequences of his decision himself.

* * *

_Thumbs up for the quick update! Right, this isn't youtube. Well, then, review? Lol anyways, it's all Sasuke and Naruto next time I promise. Do any of you watch Vampire Diaries? Just finished watching it. I shouldn't give any spoilers but... it was awesome. That's not a spoiler it's always awesome. Love that show. Damon is just... yeah. Lol okay i'mma stop now. _


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

First night after death

When all the others were gone, Sasuke finally spoke up. "Well, you can stay in this house as long as you don't get on my nerves too much. There's some blood in the fridge so help yourself."

His voice was cold but his expression had softened a bit. He was just observing the new born vampire for now.

"So you're Sasuke." He crossed his arms and composed himself. "I remember you but I didn't think it was real. It was more like a dream. A really bad one."

"And you're Naruto. What a weird name. Anyway. You staying or not?"

"How do you even know my name? I don't remember telling you..."

"You didn't have to." The hint of a smile traced Sasuke's lips.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You have my blood in you. And Kiba's, unfortunately. How could you even drink that?" He made a disgusted expression but then shrugged it off. "But that's besides the point. We share blood. We share thoughts. That's how it works."

"What the…?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually," Sasuke said in a condescending tone.

"Fuck you man. What do you want from me? Why did you do this to me? I hope you don't expect me to thank you."

"Oh I don't expect that at all," Sasuke tilted his head slightly. "Please, don't thank me. You'll probably end up being killed anyway so what's the point?"

Naruto frowned, fear in his blue eyes although he was trying to hide it.

"Why would you tell me that?"

"I'd rather be honest."

Sasuke stepped inside the common room and went to sit by the piano but he didn't play. He crossed his leather clad legs and put a pale hand behind him on the seat as his eyes never left Naruto, who just leaned against the wall across from Sasuke, looking down.

"Look, I don't know how to react here," Naruto said. "I don't know what to do. I just want to get the fuck out of here and go home. I mean my life might not be perfect but it's still better than this bullshit. Is there no going back? No way I can go back to normal?"

"No," Sasuke said, "in case you don't know this, as a human, you were as good as dead. So if you want to go back to normal, by all means, go out in the sun or throw yourself in a fire."

Shikamaru appeared then, as he had been listening in from the hallway, apparently. The two others looked up. Naruto was pretty shaken up.

"Sasuke," Shikamaru sighed, "just… be nice for once in your life, and answer his questions."

"_You_ answer his damn questions," Sasuke drifted his gaze toward him, "since you're here, make yourself useful."

Naruto looked at Shikamaru. "Is he... always like this?"

"Pretty much," Shikamaru said.

"Okay well first question," Naruto crossed his arms, "why would I end up being killed? What's up with that? It's not like I've done anything bad."

"There are these powerful vampires, they're in an organization, and they call themselves Akatsuki. It all started about five hundred years ago. Their leader is Uchiha Madara, he's Sasuke's direct ancestor. But I don't have time to explain all of that." Shikamaru paused, but Naruto was still listening intently, so he kept going. "The first rule, obviously, is to keep our existence a secret; you can't tell anyone, not even your family, or your friends. Basically, you can't reveal yourself to humans. Rule number two, you can't kill too many humans, and if you do kill one once in a while, you have to cover up, and leave no trace. Rule number three, you absolutely cannot change anyone into a new vampire without Akatsuki's permission."

"Right," Naruto chuckled, bringing a hand to his messy blond hair. "So what you're trying to tell me is that without even doing anything or asking for anyone's help I broke the rule and now some assholes – vampires - are coming after me?"

"Well, yeah," Shikamaru answered, "sorry."

"Can't I just go home?" Naruto asked in a little voice. He looked over at Sasuke but got no answer.

So Shikamaru took that one again. "If you want but they'll find you wherever you are. They have spies everywhere. And some of them are pretty talented sensors also… Oh and then there's the fact that you can't ever see your family or your friends again. They'll know you're different and they'll ask questions. We can't have that. Humans can't know, for obvious reasons. And sadly, you can't go out in the sun. That's out of the question."

Naruto looked right in his eyes. "What happens when they find me? They kill me? They don't even give me a chance? I mean, I won't kill anyone, I swear. I don't want to hurt anybody. I'll… I don't know I'll find a way to survive. That guy... Kiba gave me his blood earlier and I feel fine."

Sasuke cringed at that. "You're not supposed to drink from other vampires, idiot. That's just during transformation or... some other circumstances. We feed from humans, or if you want, you can try feeding from animals. But there are ways to feed from humans without hurting them."

Naruto glared at him across the room. "If I… drink someone's blood I'm pretty sure they'll end up being hurt. You're not making any sense."

"Not if you don't take too much," Sasuke got up and held his stare. He looked almost intrigued. Sasuke stepped closer to Naruto and said, "What's with that attitude of yours? Why don't you try showing me a little respect?"

"I don't see why I should," he replied.

"Guys," Shikamaru interrupted but he was ignored.

Sasuke stepped a little closer and a smirk danced on his pale lips. He crossed his arms, the silver bracelets at his wrists clinking a little. He also wore a few black and silver chains around his neck, which rested onto his black sleeveless top.

"You weren't like this last night. You were… vulnerable. Maybe I should…" Sasuke's voice lowered to a whisper as he stepped very close to Naruto now. He leaned toward him and Naruto was paralyzed. Sasuke smiled. But Sasuke's smile was scary more than anything. "Maybe I should take back the blood I gave you," he finally said. "Maybe you don't deserve it."

"D-Don't touch me," Naruto's voice was weak.

Shikamaru was just standing there, witnessing all this with no idea what to do. He didn't want to risk pissing off Sasuke even more by putting himself in between. So he could only watch. Both guys seemed to be somewhat… attracted to each other. But that could be just an effect of sharing the same blood. It tended to happen.

In a swift movement Sasuke grabbed both Naruto's hands and pinned them to the wall. He also forced his thigh in between his legs. He leaned very close to Naruto's defenceless neck.

"I'll teach you respect. We'll see if you keep up that attitude of yours when I leave you starving and weak…" He sank his fangs in Naruto's neck.

At first Shikamaru didn't react. It wasn't his place. But he didn't like seeing Naruto helpless as Sasuke drank his blood. This was pointless. Why was Sasuke doing this? Shikamaru needed to stop this. Surely Sasuke hadn't saved him just to be a cruel maker and torture him.

So he grabbed Sasuke's arm and yanked him away forcefully. Sasuke was stronger. He could have just pushed him away and continued what he was doing. But instead he stopped and stared at Shikamaru as he licked his lips clean.

"Just showing him what happens if he gets on my nerves."

"Yeah well that's enough I think he got it," Shikamaru said, letting go of his arm.

Sasuke flipped his raven bangs to the side as he looked at Naruto, biting his lip with a fang briefly. Shikamaru followed his glance.

Naruto was staring at Sasuke only. He indeed looked weakened but not too much. Shikamaru had stopped Sasuke in time. But now he was getting sick of this. Was he the third wheel here or what?

"I'll let you guys… uh… talk I guess," he muttered and left the room.

He had some work to do on his computer anyway. Sasuke could deal with his mess alone. It wasn't Shikamaru's problem.

…

"Are you afraid of me?" Sasuke asked him.

"No," he said a little too quickly.

Sasuke smirked, placing one hand in his pocket. His pants were so tight that Naruto wondered how his hand could even fit in there. The truth was, Sasuke was one of those people who were simply so good looking that it could take your breath away. Sure he was a guy, but he was pretty, nearing perfection. As he looked deep into Naruto's eyes, his smirk disappeared. His black eyes were paler now, almost gray. It was so dark in here, yet Naruto could see perfectly well.

"It didn't change you that much," Sasuke whispered, more to himself, while staring at Naruto.

"What do you mean?" He asked, trying to control the trembling in his voice.

He lifted a hand to press it to his neck, and was surprised to find no wound where Sasuke had bitten him. How was that even possible?

"We heal fast," Sasuke said simply.

"Yeah I…" Naruto cleared his throat nervously, "I can see that." He remembered falling off that tree outside. That hadn't hurt him either.

Seriously, this whole situation was freaking him the fuck out.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there when you woke up." Sasuke finally looked away and Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "If you want to take a shower, you can use my private bathroom, it connects with my bedroom, last door to the left," he pointed down the hall.

"I know where it is," Naruto said.

"I bought you clothes, too," Sasuke said. "They're on my bed. So please put them on after you shower."

Naruto touched the shirt Kiba had given him. "These clothes are fine…"

Sasuke chuckled dryly as he leaned close and rested two fingers on Naruto's neck, exactly where he had bitten him just moments ago. Naruto tensed. The closeness bothered him.

"I told you to wear the clothes I bought for you, so you do it. Got it?" He pressed one nail into Naruto's neck until it bled, and then he licked it before pulling away with a dangerous smile and a glint in his eyes.

"Fine, but stop doing that..." Naruto said, biting back several curse words and insults.

He actually really felt like a shower and some alone time right now so he quickly made his way to Sasuke's bedroom, and private bathroom. He locked himself in there and let out a shaky sigh as he looked at himself in the large mirror. His eyes widened in shock.

Maybe Sasuke thought that he hadn't changed that much… but his skin was perfect and smooth now, and much paler than before. Even though it was dirty, his hair was shinier and sleeker. His eyes were a darker, deeper blue and, damn, his freaking eyelashes were longer, what was up with that? And the fangs, fuck, the fangs. They were so sharp and long, longer than normal. He couldn't just go out there in the world and randomly smile at people anymore. They'd just freak out at the sight of his grin.

Naruto had always been an athlete; the only decent grades he got at school were in PE class, so his muscles were already well defined before. There was little difference there, even though he knew for a fact that he was so much stronger and faster now. Sure he was freaking out, and he still wasn't sure this was real, but there was a rather dangerous and exciting aspect to this whole situation.

He turned on the shower and stepped in, letting his body relax under the warm water. He didn't feel any tiredness or soreness at all though, but he supposed it was more psychologically that he needed to relax. He used Sasuke's shampoo and shower gel, which smelled really fresh and nice, actually.

Whatever. That Sasuke guy was a prick. Naruto couldn't believe him. He hated him already, and apparently he was stuck with him. After cleaning himself, he turned off the water and wrapped a black towel around his waist. Sasuke's stuff was all black apparently, even the stupid towels. Ridiculous…

The bedroom was empty and the door was closed. Well, Naruto appreciated that Sasuke left him alone to get changed at least. The bed was made neatly and a little pile of clothes rested on it. Naruto had expected black leather – almost like a freaking bondage kit or something, from the way Sasuke acted around him – but he was in for a surprise. Okay, so the jeans were rather tight, but still it wasn't so bad. Then there was a nice dark blue plaid shirt with thin, dark orange lines, and also a navy v-neck sweater which he put on top. Those clothes were fitted and looked good. The fabric was also very nice… these were expensive for sure. He wondered if Sasuke had actually bought them or stolen them.

Naruto wondered if the vampires would ask him money for allowing him to stay here. Well, that would be a problem, because he sure didn't have any cash. Since he wouldn't show up at work today he was probably going to get fired. But he couldn't care less; it was just a stupid cashier job. He supposed there was no going back to his life anyway… Without a job, he would get kicked out from his apartment. As small and crappy as the place was, there was still a rent to pay.

He felt thirsty now. So he made his way to the kitchen, where he felt Sasuke's presence. He didn't know how that was possible. He just knew he was there, kinda like a sixth sense. Also he knew there was blood for him in the fridge… This was all so fucked up. Just before walking in the room, he heard Sasuke having a conversation with that Sakura girl and he stopped. He was eavesdropping shamelessly.

"We could still kill him, Sasuke. It's not too late! He's still vulnerable."

What the hell? What had he ever done to her?

"No," Sasuke said harshly, "He's staying. If you don't like it, just leave. No one's making you stay."

Soon after, Naruto smelled her blood; he realized she was crying.

"But I want to stay with you," she whispered between sobs.

He heard Sasuke sigh and walk away, leaving Sakura alone.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said when he was caught listening.

"What you think I didn't know you were there?" Sasuke said. He had a glass full of blood in his hand. Naruto couldn't help but stare at it. He sort of… wanted it. "Let's go back to my room. Do you like the clothes?" He asked while they were walking down the hall.

Naruto could feel Sakura's eyes trying to drill holes in his back from the kitchen's entrance. Bitch.

"They're not so bad."

As they stepped inside his room he gave him the drink.

"For you."

"Thanks I guess..." Naruto said before draining it all at once without thinking. It was so thick and strange but at the same time he needed it so badly and it tasted amazing too – definitely not how blood should taste like. Oh God, this was so damn weird. He kept hoping it was all just a bad dream.

He cleared his throat and put down the now empty glass on the nightstand. He noticed a few books there but didn't recognize the authors or titles. Then again he wasn't big on literature; he preferred manga.

Sasuke was being utterly quiet now. Naruto felt uncomfortable, especially when Sasuke closed the door and just leaned on it, staring at him.

"You don't seem like too much of an idiot," he said matter-of-factly, "and you're not bad looking. You're also not panicking or acting crazy, I guess, which is definitely something I appreciate. So you can stay here, for now."

"What do you mean for now?"

Sasuke looked past him and out the window. "Akatsuki will be after us, probably already are. We might have to leave this place – all of us."

Naruto reflexively wanted to apologize for causing trouble but then he realized, hey, it wasn't his fault. That Hinata girl had almost killed him and then he hadn't asked for anyone's help. It was Sasuke's fault for changing him into this.

"You know," Sasuke ran his fingers through his long black locks, "you could be more thankful. And no, it might not be your fault, but I could still change my mind and just give you to them so they can kill you."

"Can you read my thoughts or something?" Naruto said defensively.

"Maybe."

Before Naruto could reply, Sasuke asked, "Do you have family or friends who will call the police to look for you? Because I might need to erase their memories of you."

Erase their memories?

"Um… Don't bother," Naruto said, "my family's dead. And my friends won't care. They'll just think I quit school and took a train somewhere or whatever. I was always talking of doing that so…"

"Good," Sasuke said without any emotion whatsoever.

"God you're an insensitive jerk."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know we were friends already. My bad. So, if I tell you my family's dead, will you cry for me?"

Naruto was fuming. "I really hate you, you know that? Why did you do that to me?"

"Felt like it. Next question."

"You call that an answer?" He protested.

"It's the only one you're getting."

"So what's your story, how old are you?" Naruto sat on the bed, crossing his arms. Since he was stuck here, might as well hear him out.

Sasuke arched a fine eyebrow, "You want to hear my story?"

"Sure, I'm curious. Apparently you're the oldest, strongest… vampire around here or whatever. So tell me."

Still leaning on the door, Sasuke kept his gaze on the window.

"Well if you want to know… I was born in 1785, in London. My Mother was Japanese, and my Father British." He explained, and then looked at Naruto curiously. "What about you anyway? I mean, I don't know a lot of Japanese people with natural blond hair and blue eyes."

Naruto looked down, "My parents were… American, but they moved here before I was born. From what I remember, they were in love with the Japanese culture, and my Father got a job here as an English teacher. So... you grew up in London? How was it?"

"I was home schooled, and so was my brother. Our father was rich. Anyway, we had this 'uncle' Madara, who often came visit. My mother loved it because he brought news from her hometown, and family. Madara would always bring gifts for my brother. He favoured Itachi. So that's pretty much it I guess. Now these two are in the Akatsuki, and here I am."

Naruto raised a brow, "How did that happen?"

"Itachi changed. In his early twenties, he went to live with Madara. We hardly heard from him after that. I didn't know it back then, but Madara changed him."

Naruto said, "All right, so he changed your brother, and then what happened? Who changed you?"

"Why do you want to know so much?" Sasuke looked at him, placing one booted foot against the door.

"I've got nothing better to do."

"If you must know, with my brother gone, I was kind of… lonely I guess. So that's when I met Shikamaru. He was living as a fugitive because he didn't want to serve in the army."

"So you guys both got changed into vampires at the same time?" Naruto asked.

"That's not how it happened, no…"

"So then what?"

Sasuke said, "You ask too many questions."

"Look if you don't want to tell me it's fine."

But Sasuke's expression changed to a darker one when he prepared himself to continue his story. "You might as well know who we're dealing with. So… Madara and Itachi came back. It was the end of July, right after my twentieth birthday. I was outside with Shikamaru all day. Late at night, when I came back home, I found both of my parents dead."

Naruto looked away, he didn't know what to say. His own parents had died in a car crash and he had seen them dead on hospital beds. He could relate, to an extent.

But it didn't matter. Sasuke seemed lost in his own world. "Then Itachi appeared. He faced me with those same black eyes, but I knew something was different, wrong. Even with my human eyes I could tell. He was different, and the same; he hadn't aged at all. At first I was upset, and I yelled at him. I didn't understand what was happening, and I didn't want to. But then he started walking towards me and I got scared, I ran away. He followed me. You know, in those shitty supposedly scary movies, when the victim is running full speed, yet the killer, or monster, always seems to keep up ridiculously easily? Well, it was kinda like that..."

Sasuke paused. "What happened after that?" Naruto asked.

"He changed me. To this day, I still have no idea why. Madara's blood inside him made me a powerful newborn, but then he just left me alone. When I woke up, I was on a bed, in the basement of some small, abandoned house. I wasn't stupid, I remembered drinking his blood. I knew I had become something else, a creature. But still, it wasn't easy to be on my own. I didn't understand what was happening to me."

Naruto shuddered; he had been through the same thing just now, and was still going through it, and he didn't want to imagine waking up alone to deal with this, with no one to explain.

"You must've totally freaked out."

"You could say that... I went to Shikamaru. I could tell he was scared, but he stayed calm. He agreed to help me hide."

"Did you stay in that house?"

Sasuke nodded. "For some reason Itachi wanted to help me, because that house was safe. We realized the sun hurt me, so I hid there during the day and Shikamaru kept guard."

"What about... blood?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke sighed and went to sit in a lounge chair, in the corner of the room. He brought his hand to his raven locks. "Blood. Always the problem, isn't it? Of course, we didn't know what to do. We weren't murderers. I tried eating normal food but I couldn't keep it down. It became too difficult to be near Shikamaru without jumping on him to drink his blood. I was weak… So I eventually decided to try and hunt down some small animals to live off their blood. That worked for a little while…

"Only for a little while?"

Sasuke's lips twitched into a small smile. "Look Naruto I'm not going to tell you I never killed anyone. I'm sure you get the picture. Anyway, we learned that Madara and Itachi had taken over my family's business and all of their money. So there you have it. These are the founders of the Akatsuki; willing to kill their own family for financial resources. Lovely story isn't it?"

"What happened to Shikamaru? Did you change him?"

"Another charming story. I had no choice. Remember I told you he was a fugitive? Well he was found out one day by some soldiers, and beaten to death. Well, almost. When I woke up and he wasn't there, I went to look for him. I found him trying to crawl his way back to our safe house. I knew he wouldn't last much longer; he had lost a lot of blood and had so many injuries. It was a whim more than anything - selfish, I suppose, simply because I didn't want to be alone. I had no idea what I was doing, though. I was weakened myself from all those weeks of starving. I barely had enough blood to give him."

Sasuke sighed, closing his eyes briefly. "We were both unconscious after that... When the sunlight woke us, our skin had already started burning. We gathered what little strength we had left, and barely made it back to the house on time…"

"But you healed after that, right?" Naruto asked softly. He was getting really into the story for some reason.

"It took some time... but yeah we healed. He never resented me. He knew I never meant to hurt him." Sasuke turned his head to look at him. "Anything else you want to know?"

Naruto realized he was a bit shaken up, because to some extent he could feel Sasuke's emotions. He was hiding it so well, but on the inside the guy was troubled as he was retelling his past.

"Did you ever meet your brother again?"

"Yes," Sasuke said, "many years later."

"Did you fight him?"

"I tried, but he was too strong. He told me about Akatsuki and the rules. He said they would let Shikamaru live, but that we weren't allowed any more mistakes. He asked me to join him. I told him to go fuck himself. He left and we didn't hear from him for several other years after that." He leaned back into his seat. "Anything else?"

"What's up with Sakura?" Naruto asked as he himself put a pillow against the wall and leaned on it, throwing his arm behind his head.

"What do you mean?"

"Why does she want me dead? She really into you or something?"

"No bloody idea."

"Uh… was that your answer for the first question or…?"

"Both," Sasuke said.

"Oh."

"You wanna know what's funny? I'm not her maker. With Shikamaru we met her during our travels. She decided to stick around. Apparently she," Sasuke shrugged carelessly, "has a thing for me or whatever."

"Yeah no shit," Naruto teased.

"I sure never encouraged her," Sasuke replied.

"Doesn't matter. Maybe she can't help it."

Naruto could understand Sakura's feelings. Girls always had a weak spot for tall, dark and mysterious, didn't they? Typical.

Sasuke looked at him with that dangerous glint in his dark gray eyes. Naruto suddenly felt very uncomfortable, and he blushed, inwardly cursing himself for it. What if that guy could really read his mind?

"You could read mine too if you tried hard enough," Sasuke said and Naruto blushed even more. "But then I'd probably block you out."

"You can do that?"

"It's not easy though."

"I don't care!" Naruto exclaimed. "I want to learn how to block you out. I don't want you reading my thoughts you jerk! That's private stuff."

Sasuke just stared at him for a moment. "What? Is this the moment when I apologize for invading your privacy? I saved your life Naruto. I'll read your thoughts if I fucking want to. Not my fault if you can't keep them quiet."

"You're such a jerk."

Sasuke smiled and gave a small modest shrug.

Naruto rolled his eyes, looking out the window, and trying to calm his heartbeat. He was still flustered. What? He wasn't used to being mind raped. He decided to change the subject. "Okay, so, tell me, what other powers do we have?"

"It depends on the person. For example, Shikamaru's always been very smart, and he's even more intelligent as a vampire. He doesn't always look the part, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had one of the highest IQs in the world. And… Kiba's great at making people comfortable, he can fool humans quite easily. Anyway, Hinata's still a bit of a mystery to me. But I know she's extremely sensitive. I don't know about Sakura, honestly…"

Naruto laughed, "You don't seem to like her very much."

Sasuke just shrugged it off.

He asked, "What's your power then, Sasuke?"

"Nothing special. I'm a pretty good fighter, I'm strong, and I'm fast. I'm great at blocking my thoughts, but I read other people quite well."

"Really?" Naruto asked, amused. "Prove it."

Sasuke arched a fine black eyebrow, but answered anyway. "I can tell that you're very lonely even though you don't like to show it. You have this strong yet vulnerable thing going on. You have an extremely strong will and survival instinct so even though this is happening to you," he waved his hand about, "well you still want to do everything in your power to adapt and survive. You're not a remorseful person. Obviously you don't care that Hinata almost killed you. You understand it wasn't her intention."

"Yeah, but, I mean, those things were pretty obvious, like, anyone would figure out that much," Naruto said defensively, although he was a bit troubled at having Sasuke analyze him like that.

"You're the kind of person who always strives to be better, stronger, and who feels the need to prove himself," Sasuke continued, amused. "You don't let yourself give up, no matter the situation. You're a bit naive, you befriend and trust people easily…"

Now Naruto had enough. "Maybe as a human!" He exclaimed, "But not… I won't fucking befriend you, or trust you, if that's what you think."

"Cause you hate me so much?" Sasuke smiled.

"I do!"

"That's why you wanted to know so much about me? Why you listened to my story?"

"That's cause of the…" Naruto was almost panting from being so troubled, and having his heart beating so fast. If only Sasuke could stop staring at him so intently. "It's just, like, I... It's not like I care."

"Of course not."

Naruto cleared his throat. "Anyway... what happens now? These Akatsuki people are coming after us?"

"Probably. I'll kill them." He said without flinching.

"But that's… your brother…?"

Sasuke snickered. "Itachi won't come here. He's got better things to do. Torturing young vampires, maybe; good times. No, some lame ass minions will probably show up at my door step and I'll kill them all, one after the other."

Naruto shivered; even though it wasn't directed at him, Sasuke's cold determination was scary. But he didn't have time to reply, as Sasuke suddenly got up and opened the window widely.

"Let's go, we still have time before dawn, and I want to see how powerful you are."

"Do I have a choice?" Naruto asked.

"No. Follow me."

With that said, Sasuke jumped and landed gracefully on the ground, before running away at an incredible speed.

"Hey wait!" Naruto shouted.

He went after him and jumped, much less gracefully. He ran as fast as he could and actually caught up with Sasuke in no time.

"Hey, I'm faster!" He grinned.

"I was going slow so that you could keep up, you idiot."

"Prove it."

Sasuke jumped forward powerfully and moved his legs so fast it would've been hard to see them with human eyes. In one instant, he had a good advance. But Naruto was a sore loser, so he did his very best. He increased his speed as well, until his legs hurt, but he found out that even as a vampire he had his limits.

Naruto was a pretty good runner, always first in all of his gym classes. So following Sasuke's logic, he figured he was probably a good runner as a vampire too. But Sasuke was just too fast, it was very frustrating.

He didn't want to lose sight of him though; he had no idea where they were going, after all. So he pushed himself to run faster and faster. It seemed like a very long time before Sasuke stopped, but really it had just been a few minutes. Naruto couldn't believe it; they had made at least twenty kilometers, if he wasn't mistaken, maybe even more. He went to stand beside Sasuke and put his hands on his thighs, catching his breath.

His body hurt. He'd pushed himself too far. He fell on the ground, a hand on his chest, his breathing difficult.

Sasuke laughed. Naruto was so surprised at hearing the sound that he sat up and looked at him. Sasuke was genuinely smiling, for once.

"You're fast," Sasuke said simply.

"Not fast enough," Naruto replied. He jumped to his feet. He felt better already. Well, this was definitely his favorite aspect of being a… vampire or whatever. Fast recovery.

He noticed they were on a hill, and he could see his home town in the distance. He thought that just last night he'd gone out at the bar with the guys… It was crazy.

Sasuke followed his gaze quietly. He lost the smile but he looked serene. His profile was perfect, and the strands of black hair dancing in the cool wind looked silky soft. When Sasuke looked at him, Naruto glanced away quickly.

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Sasuke finally said, "No one's as fast as me. So believe me, you _are_ fast."

"Whoa," Naruto teased him, "you're so modest."

"Always," Sasuke said seriously, which made Naruto laugh.

"Oh my god so you are capable of humor."

"Whatever you say."

"Hey, so, um, weren't you like, all pissed off that me and Kiba came out in the woods earlier? Seems kinda hypocritical to me, since we're here right now…"

Well, with that, Sasuke's good mood was gone. He looked annoyed now.

"You're safer with me. Don't ask stupid questions."

"So what? I won't end up being killed after all, as long as I stick close to you?" Naruto said in a sarcastic tone. Sasuke's mood swings were starting to get on his nerves.

"Let's see if you'd survive on your own," Sasuke said harshly and without warning, he pushed Naruto to the ground in one swift movement.

Naruto was pissed now. Well, if Sasuke wanted to fight, then Naruto would at least defend himself and give him a good one. He jumped to his feet and threw a punch but Sasuke dodged it so easily that it was extremely frustrating. Naruto tried again and again to hit him but no luck. Sasuke just kept dodging. Then Sasuke punched him in the stomach, so hard that Naruto bent over and fell, trying to breathe but it wasn't happening.

"I think you've got a lot to learn," Sasuke mocked.

But the fast recovery thing surprised Naruto once more. He felt okay again in no time. He stayed down but kicked Sasuke's leg. This surprised the older vampire and he jumped back. Naruto jumped up and tried to hit him again. But Sasuke just smiled and it seemed he could read his every move because nothing worked.

"You're not that bad after all," Sasuke told him.

Naruto barely heard him. He was focused on the fight, even though they were clearly unmatched. He wanted to give it his all. But it was no use. Sasuke blocked all of his punches and kicks. At some point Sasuke hit his face so hard that Naruto fell to the ground again. This time he stayed down.

But Sasuke grabbed his arm and lifted him up. He checked his backside. "You'll get your new clothes all dirty," he said. "Let's do this again some other time. Enough for now."

"Oh yeah, cause that's what you're worried about," Naruto muttered, pulling away from him, "the clothes…" He lifted his hand to wipe the corner of his lips, where a trail of blood lingered.

But Sasuke smacked his hand away and instead licked the blood. Naruto blushed. His whole body felt way too hot. He took a few steps back, his eyes wide. Okay, so maybe Sasuke liked the taste of his blood a little too much. Just now, his tongue had touched his lips…

"Couldn't let it go to waste," Sasuke teased, flashing his fangs.

"Go fuck yourself," Naruto muttered and started walking in what he thought was the direction of Sasuke's house.

Sasuke followed him quietly.

Eventually he said, "You have potential. You can train with me, or with Kiba. We're both good fighters; although I'm the best one, of course."

Modesty.

"Shikamaru's an amazing strategist. Hinata's an okay fighter, but she gets too sensitive. Sakura's all about brute force, and if you're fast enough to avoid her fists, she has no chance."

"Thanks for the advice, I mean from what I've heard, she's probably gonna kill me, and then tell you it was an accident or something..."

"I wouldn't let her," Sasuke replied. "And for the record, vampires don't die by accident very often."

"Smart ass."

"Oh, and one more thing Naruto."

"What now?"

Sasuke stopped walking and looked at him intensely with those deep black eyes. "Don't drink the blood of any other vampire. If you're ever in trouble and you really need some, I'll give you mine."

"Why is it such a big deal to you?" Naruto asked, slightly intrigued despite himself.

"Are you attracted to me?"

"What?" Naruto snorted but he wasn't a very good liar. "Pf, no… I mean, what the…?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes in annoyance. "It's okay. It's the blood. It does that sometimes..."

"Oh. I drank Kiba's."

Sasuke clenched his fists. "I know, idiot. That's why I said, just don't do it again all right?"

"What? You jealous or something?" Naruto tried to laugh it off as he started walking down the hill again. "Don't worry, I'm not _attracted_ to him – or to anyone for that matter!"

It was easier to lie without Sasuke looking at him. These dark eyes of his, they were so intense, and sort of intimidating. Naruto shivered. The truth was, he was kind of attracted to him, he couldn't help himself… But he'd never admit it.

"I can read your thoughts you fucking idiot."

That did it. Naruto shouted, "I fucking hate you you asshole!" And he turned around, ran into Sasuke and pushed him down harshly. He grabbed his arms and pinned him down.

"So?" Sasuke was amused. "What are you gonna do now?"

Naruto realized he was straddling his waist and leaning close and baring his fangs. Okay, so Sasuke could probably stop him any time he wanted. Which meant… he was actually enjoying this? Ugh…

"I fucking hate you," he said again, pulling away.

"I'm extremely flattered," Sasuke followed him from a distance, "but I'm not looking for a relationship right now, sorry. It's not you, it's me."

Naruto was fuming. He wasn't sure he liked that Sasuke was capable of humor any longer.

"God you're such a prick. Why are these people sticking around anyway?"

"Beats the shit out of me."

They walked quietly all the way to the house. Time had gone by quickly tonight. Naruto felt tired now. Somehow it wasn't uncomfortable walking in silence next to Sasuke. Naruto was amazed by every sound he could hear, and every detail he could see. The starry night sky was particularly amazing. He could hear the small animals in the woods, and the little stream a few kilometers away. There were no lights here, they were in the middle of nowhere, yet he could see so well in the dark.

Later, inside the house, they were greeted by the four other vampires in the living room. Kiba and Hinata were sitting at the piano, where Hinata was unsuccessfully trying to teach him how to play. Sakura was sitting on the couch, brushing her long pink hair and watching a movie on the flat screen. She was wearing a black man's lounge shirt – it was too big for her petite frame – with red leggings. Shikamaru was wearing pajamas and playing chess, against… himself apparently.

"Sasuke!" Sakura smiled and walked over to him, making a show of ignoring Naruto.

So he shrugged and went to stand next to Kiba, pressing random notes on the piano.

"Dude stop it you're ruining it!" Kiba whined.

"Sucked anyway," Naruto said. Hinata looked at Kiba and nodded her agreement sadly.

"Sakura, why are you wearing my shirt?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto darted his eyes toward them.

"Well..." she started timidly.

"I told her you wouldn't like it," Shikamaru muttered without looking up from his game. "Nobody ever listens to me."

For some reason, Naruto actually pitied her. She looked so miserable. So he decided to change the subject.

"So do any of you guys actually know how to play, or is this just for decoration?" He asked, pointing the piano.

"Sasuke plays very well," Hinata said.

Sakura nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, Sasuke, you should play!"

"I'll play when I fucking want to."

Well someone was in their time of the month...

Shikamaru stood, yawning and stretching his long limbs. "It's almost dawn. I'm off to bed. Please don't wake me up this evening, I want to sleep in..."

Naruto almost laughed, he thought it was such a weird thing to say. Please don't wake me up this evening.

"You always sleep in anyway, you lazy ass," Kiba teased him.

"Shut up dog boy," Shikamaru snapped before walking up the stairs.

"Dog boy?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"That's one of my nicknames," Kiba said proudly.

"You don't even have any other nicknames, you moron," Sakura rolled her eyes.

Hinata looked at Naruto. "Animals fear us, especially dogs. They know we're different, dangerous. But for some reason – maybe because he was a dog trainer as a human – dogs still love Kiba and don't fear him at all." She explained.

"Cool," Naruto said. Great now he was having casual conversation with these vampire people.

Sasuke walked over to him and said, "Naruto, do you want to sleep with me or with Sakura?"

"What?" Naruto exclaimed. What the hell was he talking about?

"I don't want to sleep with him!" Sakura practically yelled.

"Will you shut up?" Sasuke sighed, annoyed, as he flicked a strand of hair behind his ear. "Look, Shikamaru only has a single bed. Kiba and Hinata share a bed obviously. So it's either Sakura's room or mine."

"Can't I just… crash on the couch or something?"

"There's not enough protection from daylight here," Sasuke looked at the several large windows and Naruto followed his gaze.

Indeed the sunlight could probably easily slip through. Before they had even reached a decision Kiba and Hinata had already retired to their own bedroom, following Shikamaru upstairs.

"Sasuke," Sakura was saying, "why don't you let him have your room, and sleep with me tonight?" Her tone couldn't have been more suggestive.

Sasuke glared at the both of them in turn. "This is getting ridiculous. Just figure it out by yourselves." He walked down the hall. "Don't bother me or I'll kill you."

"Wait, but…" Naruto said weakly but it was too late. They heard the door to Sasuke's bedroom being clasped shut loudly. "Great," Naruto sighed, "look what you did. You pissed him off."

"Shut up!" Sakura shouted, hatred in her green eyes.

"What did I ever do to you anyway?" Naruto shook his head in disbelief. "You're so immature. You're jealous aren't you?"

"So what if I am?" Sakura stepped closer to him. She was a lot shorter but she didn't look intimidated in the slightest. "Why did Sasuke save you anyway? I just don't get it!"

"Well you better accept it. Let's just… go to your room and don't worry I'll sleep on the floor I don't care."

"Oh you're not coming anywhere near my room!" She stormed off, and soon another door was shut loudly.

Damn these people, Naruto thought.

So at first he tried to sleep on the black leather couch. But when the first slivers of sunlight flooded inside the room he woke up. His skin was too warm and it was becoming all red. He felt like he was suffocating.

He went in the hall, and found a spot where the light couldn't reach. He still felt too hot and uncomfortable so he took off the sweater and unbuttoned his shirt. He used the sweater as a pillow as he curled up on himself. It wasn't exactly comfortable to sleep on the hardwood floor but what choice did he have? He was scared of the sun. He was afraid because all of this craziness seemed to be real after all. He didn't want it to be. He wanted to wake up in his bed, in his shitty apartment, because at least it was a normal and perfectly fine life… Here he didn't feel safe.

Sleep wouldn't come. He realized the light moved closer to him as the hours went by, because of those large windows in the living room. Naruto crawled away from the light and he opened a door which he knew didn't lead to either Sakura or Sasuke's bedroom. It was a bathroom. But there was a window with no curtains whatsoever. And it was a very sunny day already. The light hit hard and with a whimper Naruto shut the door and stepped away.

Naruto really felt like he was suffocating. Was he having a panic attack? Everything… it was just too much. Being hurt by the sun like that, it made him realize just how real this situation was. He leaned against the wall, still holding the sweater in one hand. He pressed his other hand to his forehead, and then ran shaky fingers through his blond locks. What the hell was he supposed to do? He just wanted this to be over.

Maybe if he just went out in the sun… maybe it was for the best. What if these Akatsuki people found them and killed them all? Naruto felt a tear roll down his cheek. But it wasn't a normal tear; it was fucking blood. That only made him freak out more. And as he started sobbing he bit his lip inadvertently with his fang. Fuck this shit, Naruto thought. It wasn't happening. It wasn't real, it couldn't be. And oh, he was so thirsty again… for human blood. Human blood…

His whole body started trembling. He couldn't control it…

Suddenly a door opened. Naruto jumped out of his skin and looked to the side. Sasuke had just walked out of his bedroom, wearing only fine black lounge pants. His chest was so white in contrast. He still wore one delicate silver chain around his neck. Naruto could only look at him, trying to calm down but it wasn't happening.

"I was wondering when you'd have your breakdown," Sasuke said calmly.

He reached out to him and took his hand.

"Come on," he said softly. "What were you doing in the middle of the hall anyway?"

Naruto couldn't find his voice. They walked in Sasuke's room and he closed the door. Naruto went to fall on the messy bed, fisting the soft navy sheets. The room was so dark. No light whatsoever. It was nice. The bed smelled like Sasuke… it was subtle, but surprisingly sweet…

He wiped his tears before they could stain the sheets. He was starting to calm down.

"Sakura didn't let you sleep in her room, did she? Fuck she's annoying," Sasuke sighed. "You could've just come here."

"You said," Naruto cleared his throat, hating how weak and raspy his voice sounded, "not to bother you."

"So? Don't do everything I say," Sasuke gave a little smile. "That'd be boring."

Naruto didn't mention how little sense that made considering Sasuke seemed to get so pissed off every time someone disobeyed him. Weirdo vampire… He sat up in the bed.

Sasuke opened one of his drawers and took out a pack of smokes and a lighter. He slipped one cigarette between his lips and lighted it up. As he exhaled he looked at Naruto.

"Take off your clothes. They'll get wrinkled if you sleep in them."

"I don't want to."

"Just take them off."

"I thought it'd be boring if I always do as you say."

Sasuke bit back a smirk and Naruto repressed a smile. They both looked away. But Naruto was glancing at him from the corner of his eye. He couldn't help but think that Sasuke looked kinda like a model or something, especially with the cigarette, and topless like that…

"Hey Sasuke," he eventually asked, "don't you ever miss the sunlight?"

"Of course I do. What kind of question is that? We all do. But well, the older you get, the less it hurts. I can actually watch the sunrise and sunset now, even if it's just for a little while."

"That's awesome," Naruto smiled sadly. He wished he could watch it too.

"Just get some sleep, Naruto, you need it."

"Fine…"

He truly was exhausted. It didn't take long before he fell asleep, not without noticing how safer he felt now that he was near Sasuke.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A maker's bond

He liked Naruto. The guy had balls, Sasuke could give him that. Naruto wasn't so much intimidated by him. It was sort of refreshing.

Sasuke didn't sleep very well that day, mostly because Naruto was right there next to him on the bed. Naruto, on the contrary, slept very soundly. He had been crying in the hallway earlier, and Sasuke had felt his distress. But it was a pretty normal reaction. No reaction at all would have been weird for someone suddenly becoming a creature of the night. It had taken Sasuke himself some time before coming to terms with it, so many years ago.

He slept on his back, head slightly turned to the side next to his arm. His shirt was open revealing his flat, tan chest and abs. His skin was paler than before, but it was still darker than Sasuke's pale white complexion. Sasuke could picture him as a normal teenager, outside, playing ball with his friends during gym class maybe, the daylight shining upon his golden locks and sun kissed skin.

Sasuke sighed and turned to his other side, his back now facing Naruto. He thought that maybe if he didn't looking at him then he could find sleep. He was wrong. Speaking of his past had troubled him enough it seemed, to make him lose focus on the present.

Images of his parents and his brother haunted his mind. And the eternal question; why had Itachi bothered changing him? There was this little voice in Sasuke's head that always offered well, maybe Itachi actually cared. But then if he cared so much, why had he killed their parents? Why had he stolen their money and joined Madara in his quest to control the world – the vampire world anyway? Those remained unanswered, maybe forever.

Tossing and turning didn't offer much rest. In the end he got up and treated himself to another smoke, sitting at his desk and scribbling thoughts and drafts of poetry in one of his notebooks. It wasn't like he was a complete technology retard and couldn't use a laptop, but writing by hand soothed him, just like playing music.

Eventually he returned to the bed, amongst the messy dark blue sheets. Naruto was curled up on his side now. Sasuke leaned closer and held his breath as he touched his blond hair with hesitant pale fingers. It was very soft, and so was his skin as he ran his fingers across the curve of his neck and shoulder. He slid down the plaid shirt sleeve a little in the process. He wasn't sure, but he thought Naruto shivered just a little in his sleep. Sasuke wanted to try and sleep close to him, with his arm around him.

He frowned and shook his head as he pulled away and fell on his back, hand thrown above his head against the metallic headboard. Stupid blood bond making him feel all… romantic or whatever. This wasn't like him.

…

When Sasuke opened his eyes, a few hours later, he was up in no time. He opened the curtains and blinds and looked outside with big black eyes. Dusk was bruising the sky a dark purple. Naruto moaned in protest in his sleep but Sasuke ignored him.

He could feel something dangerous approaching. There were more than he had thought. He wondered how they had been found out so fast… then again he suspected Itachi knew of his location here in Japan and always kept someone nearby to spy on them.

Sasuke walked over to the bed and shook Naruto's shoulder harshly.

"Wake up."

"What the…?" When Naruto opened his eyes, Sasuke could tell that he was confused. But there was no time for that.

He made his way to the living area and he saw that Shikamaru and Kiba were already up – which was definitely not normal. Evidently they could feel it too. As the three of them stood side by side next to the large window a thick fog enveloped the woods outside, almost like the weather was on Akatsuki's side.

"Here already aren't they," Kiba frowned, leaning his arm against the window frame.

Sasuke went to the kitchen and opened the fridge – the only item they used in this room – to take out two blood bags, one for him, and one for Naruto. He brought them to his bedroom and threw them on the bed.

There were questions in Naruto's eyes but he saved them for after drinking the blood apparently. Well of course he'd be thirsty, Sasuke thought worriedly, as a vampire he was still just a child; defenceless, vulnerable…

"You'll stay here," he decided out loud as he opened his closet and picked out some jeans and shirt in a hurry. He tied a black and silver belt around his hips and put on his black boots.

He ran his fingers through his hair as he glanced sideways at Naruto. He was drinking the second blood bag already. Sasuke hissed and stole it from his grip.

"Give me that." Sasuke chugged down some of it then gave it back to Naruto.

"I'm sorry," Naruto was saying sheepishly, scratching his messy hair, "I thought the two were for me."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Sasuke looked out the window, frowning. That fog was a pain in the ass.

He could hear Hinata and Sakura talking worriedly with the others in the common room. Well, good, they were awake.

"Why did you say I have to stay here?" Naruto asked, swinging his legs off the bed and getting to his feet as he put the now empty blood bag away.

"Cause you're too young to fight," Sasuke said and just like that, left the room, shutting the door behind him.

It was reopened a second later and Naruto followed him.

"What are you talking about?"

In the living room Kiba had opened the window and was staring outside intently, as though trying to pierce the fog with his eyes.

"How many?" Sakura asked him. Kiba was good at sensing those things.

"Ten, I think," Kiba answered.

That wasn't so bad, Sasuke thought. They'd be fine. Next to him, Naruto was buttoning up his shirt and trying to sleek his sleep ruffled hair. Sasuke repressed the urge to roll his eyes. Why couldn't he just listen and stay in the damn room?

Shikamaru said, "We're outnumbered."

"Your skills with mathematics have always amazed me," Sasuke teased, leaning his hips against the back of the couch.

"I'm serious," Shikamaru turned to look at him. "We need to be careful."

"Oh come on Shikamaru don't worry so much," Kiba said. "With Sasuke we can easily take on four of them each. So you can have two. Would that be fair?"

"I'll fight too," Sakura said, but Hinata hesitated.

Naruto just looked confused. There was a strong, cold wind tonight. It seeped through the open window and filled the room. They all looked at Sasuke.

"They're probably hiding in the woods," he said, "waiting for us to come out. Sakura you can come with us if you want. Hinata and Naruto, you two stay inside. Got it?"

"All right!" Kiba exclaimed happily and he shifted even closer to the opened window. "Hey you Akatsuki losers! I'm not scared of you!" He shouted.

Sakura slapped him and hissed, "Stop that!"

"Doesn't change anything at this point," Sasuke sighed, "let's just go." He clenched his fists as he made his way to the front door. At the corner of his eye he saw that Kiba had opened the window even wider so he could jump out. Oh well…

No one protested except, of course, Naruto. He followed him step for step.

"I'll, uh, fight too, I guess. I don't have to stay behind. I mean," he said defensively, "I'm not saying that this is my fault or that I feel responsible, or anything, but, like, still, I should…"

"Will you shut up?"

Sasuke stopped in his tracks and stared him right in the eye. Shikamaru and Sakura exchanged a nod with him as they walked past him and stepped outside the house.

"Shouldn't we go with them?" Naruto asked.

"You stay here with Hinata! Don't make me say it again."

"Why do you care?" Naruto replied.

Sasuke was getting very annoyed at this point.

"Because," he leaned closer menacingly, "you'll be getting in my way."

"Well I promise you I won't all right? Now let's go fight these assholes, if it's me they want…"

"You know what fine!" Sasuke shook his head in disbelief, "Whatever, if you want to get killed so badly then by all means…"

"Glad you understand," Naruto muttered sarcastically as they made their way out.

They appeared now, their enemies working for Akatsuki. They were out of the woods, and so close to the house that they could see them. There were indeed ten of them, all men, dressed in black with red motives on their shirts. Sasuke had seen a lot of Akatsuki members in his life, and he couldn't recognize any of these guys. That was a good sign; it meant that maybe they were new, therefore not that well trained.

Kiba, in his excessive enthusiasm to fight, clashed with one of them first. And then it was a chain reaction. A tall and broad-shouldered guy was Sasuke's first opponent. He didn't last long. Sasuke lowered himself, easily dodging his obvious punches. Sasuke was too fast for him. Mr. Big guy barely saw his attacks coming. Sasuke had mastered a lot of martial arts. The night before, when fighting Naruto just for fun, he had gone very easy on him. Now he was using his true skills.

Tae kwan do was his favorite. Sasuke's legs were long and thin perhaps, but his strength and skill was incomparable. So his first opponent went down with a swift kick to the face, so intense that it made his neck crack and bend in a very unnatural way. His second opponent was knocked out with a kick to the chest, and his third was smashed to the ground in a similar way, before Sasuke finished him off by a direct hit to his head, crushing his face with his fist. He wasn't a pretty sight after Sasuke was done with him, to say the least.

Sasuke wiped his bloodied fist in the cold high grass, disgusted. He looked around, flipping his long raven bangs to the side. Sakura was still fighting but she was okay. Shikamaru had taken down one of them, and so had Kiba. Now they were still fighting a second opponent.

But Naruto was in trouble. He was stuck with two of the bad guys – or good guys depending on the perspective - and they had the upper hand. Sasuke hadn't noticed but while fighting those three he'd put some distance between himself and the rest. So he made a run for it.

One of the Akatsuki guys had a knife, and he cut Naruto's throat deeply while the other was holding him still. Sasuke cursed under his breath as he reached them a little too late. He attacked, throwing these two away before falling to Naruto's side. The blood was pouring from the wound way too quickly; it wasn't healing fast enough. Sasuke cut his wrist and placed it against Naruto's lips.

"I told you to stay inside," he hissed.

Naruto was too weak to even drink his blood. His eyes were closing. That wound was… bad. Sasuke had no choice. He repeatedly sliced open his wrist to pour his blood directly in the injury. It wasn't exactly pleasant but it was the only way, for now. When it started healing Naruto opened his eyes again and a wave of relief filled Sasuke's chest. He was finally able to sink his fangs into Sasuke's arm and drink by himself, which was much easier.

But while they were doing this one of the guys – Sasuke hadn't been careful enough with these two – attacked them again. He took Sasuke by surprise. Basically he grabbed his small waist and threw him away, before jumping high up and landing in such a way that he crushed Sasuke's chest with his elbow. It took Sasuke only a second to catch his breath after that, but it was one too many. He had the time to take out his knife again and stab Sasuke's heart. Now, that wasn't fatal, but it _was_ a weak spot.

Sasuke curled up on his side reflexively, a hand on his chest as he coughed blood. Thankfully and unexpectedly, Naruto was well enough to come to his help. There was still a red line on his neck but it was almost healed completely. His legs were trembling slightly but he held his ground. He growled as he grabbed the taller Akatsuki guy – apparently one of the criterias to enroll was to be freaking huge – and kneed him in the gut harshly. Then Naruto, clearly unaware of his own strength, grabbed the guy's head as he was bent over, and cracked it against a rock in the ground. Blood splashed all around and Naruto stepped away, evidently shocked by what had just happened.

Recovering from being stabbed, Sasuke watched the whole thing from the corner of his eye.

"Naruto," he said, "behind you…"

Apparently Sakura, Kiba and Shikamaru were still working on fighting their respective opponents because they weren't helping them. There had been two guys on Naruto before, and clearly Sasuke hadn't done a very good job of knocking them out. Now the other one attacked Naruto once more. But he hadn't even heard Sasuke apparently. He was looking at all this spilled vampire blood in confusion. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Still holding his chest with one hand, he jumped to his feet, repressing a hiss of pain. He stopped the enemy's fist just in time with his hand. Naruto jumped slightly and stepped away, frightened. Sasuke crushed the opponent's fist and yanked him down, lifting his leg and sinking him to the ground with his heavy boot. He lowered himself, foot still on the guy's back, and grabbed his head, bending it so his neck would break.

Panting, Sasuke got up. A few strands of black hair fell into his eyes. His clothes were all dirty and bloody, ugh. He looked at Naruto. His blue eyes were wide. Sasuke followed his glance. The others were finishing off their enemies as well.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said and his voice sounded so weak and broken. He looked everywhere in shock as though he couldn't believe this was real.

Sasuke looked down at himself, and removing his hand he saw that the stab wound was almost completely healed. Naruto's neck was fine too. He shrugged, looking up.

"Why?" He stepped closer, and was tempted to take Naruto's hand and pull him close – again with this nonsense – but he didn't. "With more training on your part we could make a pretty good team, you know?" For some reason he was trying to make him feel better.

Naruto surprised him then. He slid his arms around Sasuke's lean frame and held him tight, burying his face in his neck. Sasuke didn't really know what to do here. But before he knew it his arms were wrapped around Naruto's small, trembling frame. This was so not like him.

He wasn't saying anything but Sasuke could tell that he was freaking out. His thoughts weren't making much sense when he tried to read them. Basically, Naruto just wanted this all to be over, and he wanted to have a normal life again – the usual.

The others were staring so Sasuke cleared his throat and pushed him away firmly.

"All right, well, everyone's fine, so, no need to be all dramatic..."

A tear was falling down Naruto's cheek. Sasuke slid his thumb under his eye to collect it, and he brought it to his lips. When Naruto stared Sasuke shrugged.

"Stop wasting it. Don't you see now, how precious it is?" Sasuke looked at his neck. "Don't go cry all the blood I just gave you."

"What happened?" Kiba asked as he stepped closer and looked at Naruto. "What's wrong with him?"

"Kiba," Sasuke glared at him, "mind your own business. You know what? Why don't you make yourself useful for a change? Go get the gas and a lighter, will ya?"

Muttering incomprehensible things – probably a few curse words – Kiba made his way to the garage to go collect the necessary items.

"Hey, there's another one," Shikamaru announced darkly.

Sasuke frowned, looking at the foggy woods. "I thought I felt something…"

"Show yourself!" Sakura exclaimed, as she moved closer to Sasuke.

Soon a voice was heard from the woods. "All right, all right, but don't hurt me okay? I'm on your side."

A young man – vampire – with silver hair and violet eyes walked over to them casually. He was even smiling, that fucker.

"Good job there, but you might want to burn them, just to make sure…" the stranger said.

Kiba had gotten back by now.

"What do you think the gas and lighter are for you dumb ass? Who is that guy anyway?"

"Some Akatsuki loser trying to fool us or whatever," Sakura snorted. "Probably thinks he's doing a good job too."

Sasuke was just osbserving him for now. He wasn't wearing the black and red clothes like the others. He wore a dark gray suit with a white shirt and violet tie. He had a youthful and nice appearance but with vampires that meant nothing.

"Sakura, Kiba, you guys burn the bodies. I'll deal with this. Shikamaru, Naruto, you can come with if you want…"

Sasuke walked over to the stranger with silver hair and together they distanced themselves from the bloodied ground where the battle had taken place.

"What's your name?" Sasuke asked.

"Suigetsu."

"Pleasure," Sasuke said sarcastically. "Now, what the fuck are you doing here? And give me one good reason not to kill you right now."

"Oh, feisty!" Suigetsu smiled.

Sasuke wasn't in the mood for games. He needed to take a shower and get rid of this dirt and blood. Naruto and Shikamaru had followed but they were staying a few steps behind the two vampires facing each other.

"That's what I thought," Sasuke said and the darkness in his eyes must have showed his intent to kill because Suigetsu freaked out a little.

He raised a hand in surrender, "All right, all right. Listen up. I don't work for Akatsuki. I work for your brother."

"My brother is Akatsuki," Sasuke snarled.

"No," Suigetsu said slowly, "your brother is an individual inside the organization called Akatsuki, so that's very different…"

Sasuke bared his fangs, and before Suigetsu could even begin to react, he was at his neck, tearing the skin away. He pushed him down, wiping his mouth. He smirked.

"How convenient, I was _so_ thirsty."

"Being a wiseass with Sasuke won't get you very far," Shikamaru commented.

Suigetsu sat up, a hand on his neck. But it was healing quite fast, Sasuke noted. This guy was no newbie.

"You guys have more in common than you think. My loyalty is only to Itachi," Suigetsu said, now very serious, "and I have a message for Sasuke. He also asked me to be your bodyguard, and I accepted, so you're not getting rid of me."

Sasuke actually felt like laughing. And that didn't happen very often.

"Thanks, Suigetsu, really. This was rather entertaining. Now, we have human blood inside the house, but I kind of feel like something different today…" He grinned briefly, flashing his fangs and Suigetsu stayed down respectfully.

"Look, I'm not lying. Don't you want to hear the message at least?"

"Not really, no." Sasuke shrugged. "Shame right?"

"Sasuke," Naruto said, and Sasuke was surprised to hear him speak up.

"What is it?" He turned and locked eyes with him.

"I think you should hear him out."

"And why is that?" Sasuke arched an eyebrow.

"Haven't we killed enough people already?" Naruto glanced at the fire Kiba and Sakura were starting nearby.

"They're not humans Naruto," Sasuke tilted his head, "so get over it."

"But," Naruto pointed toward Suigetsu, "he's not with them so you don't have to kill him."

"Listen to your boyfriend Sasuke," Suigetsu smiled.

Sasuke was getting really, really pissed now.

"He's not my boyfriend," Naruto said too quickly. Very mature.

"Look who's getting all defensive!" Suigetsu, clearly amused, tried to step closer to Naruto.

But Sasuke placed his fist on his chest to stop him. He was very much tempted to tie that stupid purple tie very tightly around his neck. To strangle him.

"If you want to die, don't move, and shut up," he hissed.

"How am I supposed to tell you Itachi's message if I shut up?" Suigetsu replied.

Sasuke let out a low, threatening growl as he gathered his strength and pushed Suigetsu down using only his fist. He put one knee down next to him as the male's thin body sank into the cold ground.

"I warned you…" Shikamaru said behind him. Sasuke didn't look up.

"Spit it out then," he hissed, "what's the stupid message that's supposed to fool me into trusting you?"

"I can't tell you like this," Suigetsu smiled, "come on man. I've come all this way. I'm super thirsty. You're not being a very good host."

"Don't," Sasuke leaned closer threateningly, "push your luck."

"Sasuke," Naruto said hesitantly, "your brother saved your life all those years ago, didn't he? You told me… he could've killed you but he changed you. So maybe this is worth listening to…"

"You told him the whole story already, didn't you?" Suigetsu's smile widened as he locked eyes with Sasuke. "Interesting. You guys must be really close. How cute."

"That's it," Sasuke pulled away, raising his hands in surrender as he walked away, "I've had it with you, all of you," he looked at Naruto behind his shoulder, "throw yourself in the fire for all I care. Fucking piss me off..."

Inside, Sasuke went to lock himself in his bedroom. He threw away his dirty clothes and stepped inside the bathroom, starting the shower. It was comforting and cleansing to stand under the warm water. He closed his eyes and let the water wash away everything. If only it could wash away his memories of Itachi and Madara. Really, this day couldn't get any worst. That Suigetsu guy was so annoying. A message? Please. And Naruto was so damn naive. Why did Hinata have to hook up with such a sweet, innocent kid? Sasuke didn't like sweet and innocent.

…

"You expect me to believe you're supposed to be his bodyguard?" Naruto asked. "He almost got killed back there, and I had to help. Why were you hiding like a coward in the woods?"

"He has a point," Shikamaru added, "I mean if we're going to believe your story, try to actually make it believable."

"Oh come on," Suigetsu got up to his feet, wiping the dirt off his fancy suit jacket, "he wouldn't have gotten killed. Your boyfriend is stronger than you think blondie."

"He is not my boyfriend! And my name is Naruto!" God that guy was annoying. Maybe he should've let Sasuke kill him.

"All right, Naruto," Suigetsu smiled, "well I should thank you for defending me. And yeah, Itachi asked me to be his little brother's bodyguard, believe it or not."

Shikamaru said, "Okay, so what's that message you were talking about?"

Before Suigetsu could answer, Kiba, Sakura, and even Hinata joined them. The fog was clearing up a bit, as the cold wind got stronger.

"What's going on here?" Kiba asked.

Hinata added, "I saw Sasuke storm inside and lock himself in his room…"

That stupid asshole, Naruto thought, clenching his fists, telling him to go throw himself in the fire. Now that wasn't very nice.

Kiba and Sakura's clothes were all torn and bloody, just like Naruto's.

The five vampires were facing Suigetsu now, waiting for answers even though Sasuke wasn't here to listen. Naruto wondered if he should stay here or get back inside to apologize to Sasuke for not minding his own business. He did feel a bit guilty now, as he realized he shouldn't have brought up the private stuff Sasuke had told him about.

"Anyway," Suigetsu finally said, "this is it." He took out a crippled piece of paper from his jacket's inside pocket and handed it to Shikamaru.

Naruto looked over his shoulder.

_Madara is after you now more than ever. He has decided he tolerated your rebellious attitude long enough. I can't use my influence to protect you any longer. You'll have to be extremely careful. Madara has been using humans recently, brainwashing them, and promising to change them into vampires if they obey his every word. I'm sure you understand what that implies. You have to keep a low profile and hide for now. Take Suigetsu with you, you can trust him. He is extremely resourceful, and aside from that, he is handsome, funny and smart. _

Naruto looked up, "Okay, did _you_ write this? Why would Sasuke's brother write that stuff about you?"

"Cause he loves me?" Suigetsu offered, smiling.

"Yeah right," Shikamaru sighed, looking up as well, "is this some sort of joke?"

"Why? What does it say?" Kiba tried to read over Shikamaru's shoulder but he hid the letter in his jeans pocket.

"We have the right to see it too!" Sakura exclaimed.

"It's better you stay out of this," Shikamaru replied, before looking at Suigetsu again. "Explain."

"Okay," Suigetsu chuckled, "Itachi wanted me to remember everything but I didn't want to forget anything so I jotted it down. No big deal. I might've added a few things just for fun… Don't you have any sense of humor?"

"Let's show this to Sasuke," Naruto said and Shikamaru nodded.

"Why does he get to read it?" Sakura asked angrily. "I've been by Sasuke's side much longer than he has. Why can't I…?"

Shikamaru interrupted her, "Look Sakura, I know you're jealous. Everyone knows it, you're not being very subtle about it. And it's okay, I mean, it's only been two nights, so I'll give you a chance to get used to the idea. But it better be fast cause you're getting on everyone's nerves."

That shut her up.

Kiba spoke up though, "Wait Shikamaru, she's got a point. This guy just shows up out of nowhere and he's suddenly BFF with Sasuke? What's the deal? Just because he changed him…"

"Are you all idiots?" Shikamaru looked incredibly tired. Naruto felt awkward just standing there. "Sasuke likes this guy. I'm sure you can understand that Kiba," he looked at Hinata. "Anyway, if anyone's got a problem with that they can just leave."

Shikamaru walked quickly toward the house and Naruto followed him because he didn't want to stay with the others. Awkwardness. Suigetsu ran to the woods, came back out with a gray suitcase and followed them to the house.

"So it's really like that huh?" He laughed softly when he caught up with Naruto and Shikamaru. He addressed Naruto, "Well, you two do make a cute couple."

"Oh give me a fucking break," Naruto said sharply.

"But he's your maker! Everyone has feelings for their maker, that's perfectly normal! You don't have to fight it!" Suigetsu protested but Naruto ignored him.

Naruto went directly to knock on Sasuke's bedroom door. He could feel his presence in there.

They heard a sigh. Then, the door was unlocked and opened.

Sasuke had just gotten dressed in clean clothes. Typical outfit for him, Naruto thought; black leather pants and boots, black and blue striped tank top and black sleeveless hoodie. All the clothes were tight, hugging Sasuke's thin frame. His raven hair was still damp as he had clearly just showered. He looked like a normal teenager. The guy had style, Naruto had to say. And he was so graceful. And hot. He thought about what Suigetsu had just told him and shook his head clear.

On the meantime Shikamaru had thrown the letter on the bed, next to, Naruto now noticed, a black suitcase. Apparently Sasuke was packing up some of his stuff; mostly clothes for now. Man, that guy had a lot of clothes. Such a girl.

For a moment there Naruto was afraid Sasuke would stop what he was doing and glare at him because he was reading his thoughts, but he didn't. He was focused on that stupid letter. He pretty much had the same reaction as Shikamaru.

"Very funny," he said sarcastically as he ripped the piece of paper to shreds.

He continued packing his stuff. When no one said a thing he looked up.

"Well, Shikamaru, what the hell are you waiting for? We're getting the hell out of here so be ready in five. And if the others want to come with us they better be ready cause I'm not waiting for them."

Naruto's wallet was still on the nightstand. He'd had it on him when going to the bar, and being carried back here. He walked over there and shoved the thin, worn leather wallet in his new jeans' pocket. That was all he had. He looked at Sasuke as he finished packing up and zipped up the black suitcase.

Suigetsu was leaning in the doorframe, his own gray suitcase on the floor next to him. He was smiling pleasantly.

"So I'll be tagging along, even if you don't trust me. I've got a job to do for Itachi and I owe him one so I'll carry it out. Please don't mind me…"

"You're not coming," Sasuke hissed as he walked past him and out of the room.

Naruto shrugged helplessly when Suigetsu stared.

"Is he always like this?"

Naruto just followed Sasuke to the common room. So apparently Shikamaru had told everyone what was happening because they were all in their respective rooms, gathering their stuff. For a moment Naruto wondered why these people were sticking around Sasuke anyway. What was in it for them? They couldn't possibly enjoy his company.

Suigetsu stayed at a safe distance so Naruto and Sasuke were standing in silence next to one another, staring at the fire still burning outside.

"Sasuke…?"

"What is it?"

"In that letter… suppose it's true… well, isn't it against their own rules?"

"What you mean using humans?"

"Yeah…"

Sasuke snorted, "You think they care about that?"

"That's hypocritical."

"Again, you think they care about that?"

Naruto stopped talking after that.

Suddenly Sasuke stared at him.

"What?"

"You do have a passport, right?"

"Uh, no," Naruto scratched his hair sheepishly.

"Shit," Sasuke looked away, "this is getting so complicated…"

"How come you guys have passports anyway?" Naruto said defensively.

"Fake IDs," Sasuke said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Suigetsu stepped inside the room. "I've got one for him."

For once Sasuke looked at him like he was actually considering letting him live.

"You do?"

"Yeah well it looks nothing like him," he chuckled as he indeed took out a passport from his suitcase, "what with his pretty face and all."

Naruto blushed. He decided Suigetsu was a very annoying person – vampire.

"But a little compelling should do the rest," Suigetsu handed him the passport and Naruto shoved it in his pocket.

"Compelling?"

"You'll see," Suigetsu simply said.

Naruto decided not to question him further. He was already freaking out at every possible aspect of being a vampire, and at this point, he wasn't sure he wanted to know more.

When Shikamaru and the others were ready they joined them in the living room. Sakura wore a red dress with a long black cardigan and red ballerinas. With her pink hair she had a strange look but she somehow made it work. If she wasn't a complete bitch Naruto might have found her pretty. Hinata wore a blue skirt with a white shirt and matching jacket and Kiba had on some pretty basic jeans and t-shirt. Suigetsu was way overdressed, Naruto's clothes weren't in such a good state but they were all he had, and Sasuke… well Sasuke looked like something out of a shounen ai manga – in which he would be, of course, the mysterious bad ass guy, very much sexually confusing the protagonist. Oh shit, Naruto thought, was he that protagonist or what? Great now he was blushing again. Anyway, they were a weird group of people.

The girls carried small suitcases, and Kiba and Shikamaru had backpacks and laptop cases swung over their shoulders.

Soon they were on their way. No one spoke much. The atmosphere was tense. From what Naruto understood they were making their way to the nearest village where they would steal some cars – perfectly normal behaviour. But what was he gonna do?

Apparently Sasuke didn't care that Suigetsu was tagging along at this point. But he had this gloomy, dark aura around him and Naruto didn't dare try to talk to him. He really wanted to ask where they were going though. Were they actually leaving the country? Now, despite himself, he felt a bit excited. He'd never left Japan before.

Come to think of it, he wouldn't miss his life much. Often he'd thought of quitting school, quitting his crappy job, leaving his shitty apartment and hopping in a train with just a backpack. It was crazy but at least he'd be able to escape his hometown which reminded him all too much of that terrible accident in which his parents had died all those years ago. They were the people he missed the most in the world.

Sasuke glanced at him as they closed the walk.

"So how are you, after everything that happened?" He asked in a low voice.

The others could probably hear them anyway, but they didn't say anything.

Naruto whispered, "I don't know. I'm okay I guess, considering…"

"Yeah," Sasuke replaced his hair behind his ear, and glanced away. "You know, I didn't mean what I said earlier. I just… get mad sometimes."

"I noticed," Naruto said, trying not to laugh. Was Sasuke trying to apologize for telling him to throw himself in the fire? How nice of him.

"I'm just saying," Sasuke averted his gaze, "you're the first person I changed in a really long time. It would be nice to keep you around for a while."

The fog was clearing up by now. The air was still cold but Naruto didn't mind. Apparently vampires didn't mind cold all that much. The moonlight and the stars shone upon them. Sasuke's black hair tinted blue in the night. His eyes were a paler gray now…

"Your eyes change color," he randomly said.

"What?" Sasuke glanced at him.

"Sorry, you were being too serious; I had to just say something random. I do that sometimes. But yeah. When you're angry they're like, black, and it's really scary. Now they're gray."

At first Sasuke stared, then he seemed to go for just ignoring him.

"So where are we going?" Naruto asked.

"Just make yourself useful," Sasuke shoved his suitcase in Naruto's arms, "and carry this. And stop talking."

Well, so much for that.

"You're such a jerk," Naruto shook his head in disbelief but he did as he was told and carried Sasuke's suitcase.

"Aw, lovers quarrel," Suigetsu chimed.

"Shut up," Naruto said.

* * *

_Happy holidays guys^^ _


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Playing games

All in all it went well, considering they stole random cars from people and lied at the airport, using compulsion to convince the security that Naruto's passport was perfectly legit.

Sasuke had stepped closer to the doubtful security agent and tilted his head slightly as he locked eyes with him intensely.

"He looks better in person. Now _let us go_."

And it worked, just like that. That compulsion thing could come in handy in a lot of situations, Naruto thought.

They had to stop at an airport in France, before going to their final destination. It took some time, but it was their only choice not to attract too much attention. Acting just like normal humans was the best way not to be found out and followed. From what Suigetsu told them, Akatsuki really did have spies everywhere.

Thanks to the different time zones, they would be able to stay in night time during the whole trip if there were no delays. At some point, Naruto asked them how they were paying for all the tickets anyway; none of them had a job. Shikamaru told him not to worry about money.

Of course, Naruto was fascinated. In both planes, he sat next to the window. Sasuke insisted on sitting next to him. Naruto didn't comment, and besides Sasuke didn't bother him. He was listening to his music and reading a book. Naruto eventually fell asleep.

When he woke up they were almost there. It turned out they were going to Tunisia. When Naruto asked why, Kiba answered that his maker was there with some other vampires. Naruto wasn't too fond of watching international news or anything but he was pretty sure the situation wasn't too great in that particular area of the world. Again, when he asked, he was told not to worry about it.

"Dude, we're vampires," Kiba had said in a low voice, "what are they gonna do?"

Naruto said nothing after that, but it brought up a worrisome thought. In that letter from Sasuke's brother, it said that they were using humans. Sure humans in general couldn't do much against vampires, but what if they actually knew what they were? Did that mean they could attack vampires during the day? Wouldn't they be screwed if that happened? Naruto tried not to have another break down or panic attack. He just stayed calm. Maybe later he could ask Sasuke what they would do in such a situation – or maybe not Sasuke, he didn't like talking to him, so he could ask someone else. Like Shikamaru, he was nice.

They didn't have much time before dawn after getting off the plane. They didn't steal any cars this time, instead they took cabs.

Since they were close enough to the Mediterranean Sea it must have been flourishing with people outside normally. But right now the season was over, and it was very late at night so the surroundings were quiet. Also Kiba's maker's place didn't seem to be anywhere near the city center.

The cabs eventually stopped in front of a nice average size house. Kiba was on his cell phone and he told whoever he was talking to that they were here. They got out of the cars, and no one had local money on themselves so the vampires compelled the drivers – typical. Naruto wasn't sure he was down for living this kind of dishonest lifestyle. But what choice did he have?

"What?" Suigetsu stared back at him after compelling one of the drivers to just pretend he was paid like normal.

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's suitcase and shrugged. "Nothing…"

Suigetsu shrugged as well. He replaced his violet tie and grabbed his own luggage. They followed the others to the front door of the house. It was charming, all in pale beige brick with several trees decorating the lawn. Even before Kiba could knock, the door opened to a man and a woman – they looked young, maybe mid or late twenties, in human years anyway.

They all hurried inside because the first lights of dawn were filling the sky and that was usually bad news for vampires unfortunately. Naruto felt depressed at the thought that he would never be able to go out in the sun again, just like last night. He couldn't believe it had only been what, two days? It felt like so much longer. He couldn't tell himself it was all a bad dream anymore.

"You okay?" Suigetsu smacked his head lightly. "You were spacing out."

Naruto shrugged it off. He noticed Sasuke was looking at him but neither said anything. He really hoped Sasuke wasn't mind raping him again.

"So this is Kurenai, she's my maker," Kiba was saying with a smile, "and this is Asuma. So guys you already know Hinata…"

"Yeah we Skype all the time," Hinata smiled at Kurenai.

"Such a wonderful invention isn't it?" Kurenai said. She had a nice appearance; tall for a girl, she had long wavy black hair, and odd crimson eyes but it looked good on her. She wore a long white dress with black flowers. And apparently she had a fascination with modern technology.

Kiba dropped his bags and put his arm around Hinata, still smiling.

"And you already know Shikamaru and Sasuke, and Sakura…"

"It's been a while but we've met," Sakura nodded.

"Back in the twenties if I'm not mistaken," that Asuma guy said, narrowing his eyes as he seemed to be remembering old times.

Well these introductions were kind of taking a long time. Naruto didn't care much about these people, truth be told. He was still trying to get used to Sasuke and his friends, after all. It wasn't that easy.

"This is, uh," Kiba hesitated, "I can't remember… oh, Naruto, right?"

"You're an idiot," Sasuke muttered, annoyed.

Kiba ignored him. "And what's your name?"

"I'm Suigetsu… Oh hello there!"

Apparently the introductions weren't over just yet. Some new people – vampires – walked in the hall. It was getting crowded in here. This house wasn't that big. How would they live here all together?

"Hey," a charming girl said. She had a very short purple dress and styled her blonde hair in a long ponytail. There was a thick layer of smoky makeup around her pale eyes. "Whoa, there's a lot of you…"

"Yeah I was thinking maybe two of them could crash in the living room," Asuma offered.

"And the rest in the basement," Kurenai said apologetically.

"It's fine," Sasuke said. Naruto could tell that he was sick and tired of this and he just wanted to be safe from the sun and have some time to think. How did he know this much about how Sasuke felt? He had no clue. He just did.

They exchanged a glance but both quickly looked away. As the lights intensified outside Kurenai and Asuma led everyone further inside the house. They walked in the den, where the windows were completely covered with thick dark blinds.

"That's Ino," Kiba pointed at the blonde girl, "and Shino," finally he indicated the other guy who was staying a few steps away from the rest. "Do I have to introduce all of you again?"

"No," Naruto and Sasuke both said at once.

Sasuke cleared his throat, "We don't want to trouble you any longer. Thanks for having us here. Let's hope it won't last too long. I'll be going to the basement now. Come on Naruto…" he started walking.

He was tired of being ordered around. "Maybe I want to be in the living room."

"Fine," Sasuke glared at him, "just give me my stuff."

He took the suitcase from him harshly and made his way downstairs, following that blonde girl who was showing him the way. By the way she was looking at Sasuke, Naruto could tell that she seemed really into him. Sakura also followed, glaring holes in that girl's back. Oh God, they were acting like teenagers, all of them. How old were they supposed to be anyway? Had that guy said they met back in the twenties? Fucking hell.

The other guy - Shino or something - retired to his bedroom soon enough. Asuma and Kurenai told everyone to make themselves at home and left as well.

"Um, Naruto," Kiba bit his lip as he took Hinata's hand, "we were kind of hoping to crash in the living room, since you know, we're a couple and…"

Apparently being a couple was his only argument.

"Oh," Naruto suddenly felt awkward, "sure whatever."

"Thanks," Hinata said in a high-pitched, extremely shy voice. She even blushed as she talked to him. Damn she was weird. And shouldn't she apologize to him at least once? Wasn't this all her fault?

Now, it would've been rude to say these things out loud. Instead he went after Shikamaru, walking down the stairs leading to the basement.

The place wasn't fantastic, cold cement floor and all, with only one couch and some old television. Naruto doubted it worked properly. A few worn out mattresses had been placed on the floor.

"Anyway," Ino was saying to Sasuke, "it's your choice, but remember my bedroom is upstairs, if you want to sleep somewhere comfier, and… warmer…"

"Just leave him alone," Sakura screeched. Her voice really became all weird.

"Will the both of you just shut the fuck up?" Sasuke sighed, moving away from them and claiming one of the double sized mattresses for himself. Such a gentleman.

The girls stopped talking. Sakura went to argue with Suigetsu for who got the couch. Ino walked upstairs, defeated.

Naruto leaned closer to Shikamaru to whisper, "He's gay isn't he?"

"Gee how did you figure that out?" Shikamaru said in an equally low voice, "Oh and I should warn you he has a thing for blondes."

"Uh… great, lucky me," Naruto said sarcastically. Sasuke hadn't heard, or if he had he didn't show it.

Suigetsu and Sakura were arguing so loudly anyway, Sasuke probably couldn't hear much else. Shikamaru plopped down on a single sized mattress. Naruto had the other double sized one. It wasn't too comfortable but it would do – it was better than sleeping on the floor.

Eventually things quieted down. Suigetsu hadn't given the couch away despite Sakura's best efforts of persuasion. She had tried to sleep next to Sasuke but no success there either. Rejected by the gay vampire.

Well, she ended up sleeping next to Naruto, and it was extremely awkward. Naruto was pretty sure she wasn't sleeping, but she was pretending to. He was doing the same.

When he did fall asleep it was to be haunted by nightmares. It was like he saw himself doing terrible things. He was killing vampires at first, crushing their bodies and faces with his fist, just like that fight outside Sasuke's house... but then it changed and he was also killing humans. There was blood everywhere, and broken and torn off limbs. It all seemed so real. There was a beast inside of him, and it wanted to kill humans by draining all of their blood from their bodies. This desire filled him and he was horrified as the sane part of him could do nothing but watch what was happening.

He woke up covered in blood in the middle of a huge pile of dead bodies. He wanted to scream but nothing came out. If he was still dreaming then he wanted to wake up, he needed to… Why couldn't he?

"Naruto…"

That was Sasuke's voice, he recognized it at once. It came from so far away…

"Naruto wake up."

He opened his eyes. At first he thought he still had blood all over him. He sat up and rubbed his arms like crazy to try to get rid of it. Then Sasuke grabbed his wrists and stopped him. Sasuke's cool hands and his strong grip couldn't calm him down completely, but when he stared into his gray eyes, looking at him rather softly for a change behind long black eyelashes, well he took a deep breath and closed his eyes briefly.

Sasuke whispered, "Everyone else is sleeping. But I couldn't… I shared your dreams. Kinda gruesome."

"Wait a minute," Naruto studied his face in the dark. His black hair was ruffled from sleep. He noticed Sasuke had taken off his pants, but he was still wearing black boxers and tank top, as well as his silver bracelets and neck chain. "You _shared my dreams_?" Now that was creepy.

"Come on," Sasuke got up, "I don't want to wake the others."

Naruto got up on trembling legs. He watched as Sasuke bent over and grabbed his mattress, bringing it next to the wall so they could be as far as possible from the others. Naruto followed him and he couldn't help but stare at him. Sasuke's movements were always graceful and fluid. Naruto didn't know any other guy who could look this good while wearing no pants. Maybe he just never paid attention to any other guy before - especially not half-naked ones. But Sasuke didn't seem to have any body hair – just perfect, flawless white skin, just like a girl.

"Maybe if you think of me as a girl," Sasuke smiled teasingly as he sat on the mattress cross-legged, leaning his back against the wall, "you won't freak out so much."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto said defensively.

"You think I'm hot," Sasuke said, "but you're not usually into men."

There was a pack of smokes on the mattress, and a lighter, Naruto now noticed. Sasuke grabbed a cigarette and proceeded to light it. Naruto slowly sat on the mattress but as far away from Sasuke as he could.

"Pf," he looked away, "you're so full of yourself."

Sasuke chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Naruto glared as he ran his fingers through his hair, trying to replace it – it always looked crazy after sleeping – and feeling self conscious for some reason.

"_What's so funny?_ I can read your thoughts Naruto. You keep forgetting that. I know what you're thinking when you look at me. I mean the blood bond is pretty recent. When you're thinking it's almost as if you're talking out loud. To be honest it's kind of annoying. I'm really hoping it wears off soon."

"How come I can't read your thoughts? Hey what are you doing?" He frowned as he realized Sasuke was throwing away the cigarette in the corner of the basement. That was kind of rude; this wasn't their home.

"Don't change the subject."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'm not gay, so stop flirting with me."

"Suit yourself," Sasuke looked away, but there was a smirk lingering on his lips.

"I hate you."

"Then next time some Akatsuki vampire is stabbing me to death you can just let them," Sasuke replied in an even tone.

Naruto was fuming. How come that guy always had a comeback ready?

"You saved me first," Naruto shrugged, averting his eyes, and trying to play it casual. It wasn't really happening though. "So I thought we'd be even."

Truth be told, there had been no time to think. It was all so fucked up… For some reason he didn't want Sasuke to die, he supposed. He was unsure and confused about so many things.

"Don't worry," Sasuke lost his smile, "it's probably just cause of the blood bond. Since we share the same blood, we're kind of a part of each other and… right, I'll skip the emotional rubbish. When it wears off you can just," Sasuke waved his hand vaguely then rested his elbow on his knee, "happily stop caring about me."

"What makes you think I care about you?"

"Why are you so defensive all the time?" Sasuke tilted his head, his bangs falling into his eyes.

"Cause you talk too much," Naruto replied. It was the first thing he could come up with. He realized a bit too late that it didn't make much sense and that he just sucked at comebacks.

Sasuke was smiling again. "No one's ever told me that before. Well, I'll stop talking then. But if I let you go back to sleep can you please not make any of those bloody dreams? They kinda… make me thirsty."

Naruto rolled his eyes. What an insensitive jerk. "Oh, _excuse me_ for having horrible nightmares. I should be more considerate of you, really..."

Sasuke looked him up and down.

"What is it?"

"Take off your clothes."

"No."

"How can you sleep with your jeans? It's so uncomfortable. Just take them off."

"Do you have OCD or something? Or do you just wanna see me with my clothes off you pervert?"

"Fine keep them," Sasuke said, and turned to his side so that his back was facing Naruto. It seemed the conversation was over. Naruto's blue gaze lingered to the slice of white skin visible in between Sasuke's boxers and tank top. His hips were bony and his waist so small, for a guy, he supposed... Why couldn't he take his eyes away from him, damn it? Stupid blood bond or whatever the fuck Sasuke called it.

Frustrated and very much annoyed with himself, Naruto lay down on the mattress and also turned to his side so he didn't have to look at Sasuke. The rest of the day would be long…

…

Madara was pissed off. That was never good.

"I am still the one who gives orders around here!" He shouted while standing up to face Orochimaru. "There will be no more experiments, and the two newborns will be executed tomorrow as I had decided!"

Madara was tall and strong, with broad shoulders and long black hair. He wore a black suit with thin white lines. Everyone wore suits in those Akatsuki meetings – except the few girl members of course, and Itachi.

He sat in the corner, calm and quiet as usual. He watched as Madara and Orochimaru faced off in another one of their endless arguments. Itachi couldn't care less. Well, he wasn't completely heartless, no matter what people believed, but he was used to it by now. Vampires got killed by the Akatsuki all the time. Now, he just found those meetings boring.

"I will let you do as you wish this time, Madara," Orochimaru said in a low, threatening voice. He looked like a snake with his yellow eyes, and when he spoke it almost sounded like he was slithering. "But as you put it so well yourself, you might not always be the one giving orders around here."

There were whispers around the table. The majority of them were still Madara followers, but opinions were divided. Orochimaru did have two assistants who followed him everywhere. One was a man with long silver hair and it appeared he was wearing glasses only for style – since vampire eye sight could only be perfect. The other was a girl with dark red hair and eyes the same color.

"Is that a threat, Orochimaru?" Madara replied, leaning closer to the other man slowly.

Across the table, and sitting next to Orochimaru's two assistants, Konan glanced at Itachi. She was an extremely skilled telepath. Itachi had never met another vampire with a similar power before.

"_They are so pathetic,"_ she told him by thought, _"Itachi, please do something to end this god forsaken meeting…"_

Itachi couldn't have agreed more. And thanks to Konan's specific power, no one else could've heard her thoughts, even if they tried. She had the ability to block her mind while communicating with someone at the same time. Itachi had no idea how that worked, but it was very convenient at times.

Orochimaru and Madara were still arguing.

"My methods are more efficient," Orochimaru rambled on, "they can lead to creating an impressive army…"

Itachi stood and cleared his throat. Everyone stopped whispering, and even Orochimaru interrupted himself. Itachi didn't speak up very often.

He was handsome and intimidating. Just like Madara, he was tall and broad-shouldered, and he had very long black hair which he kept neatly tied behind his neck. Tonight he wore simple but stylish black jeans with a blue shirt and a black blazer.

While he had everyone's attention he said, "Now that the issue of the newborns has been settled, I suggest we move on to the next matter."

"Of course," Madara said right away, his eyes never leaving Orochimaru's.

Madara got along well with Itachi. He appreciated his loyalty through all those years. He liked to believe that despite all the time that had passed, there was still a bond between them. Itachi didn't feel the same way, but he kept his thoughts to himself. He sat, settling back into his seat as he exchanged a knowing glance with Konan. She was silently thanking him.

Orochimaru and Madara, the two self-proclaimed leaders of the vampire world, sat down as well. Orochimaru's yellow eyes lingered on Itachi across the round table.

"Well Itachi, I think you'll find this next 'issue' we're discussing has a rather familiar name. Sasuke…"

The way Orochimaru said his little brother's name freaked him out a bit, although he did a good job of hiding it.

For Madara, Sasuke was the one that got away, to put it simply. After Itachi had changed him, Madara had wanted Sasuke to join them as well. Things hadn't exactly turned out that way.

As for Orochimaru, well, pretty much everyone around this table had heard the story. Some hundred years ago Orochimaru had met Sasuke by coincidence and apparently he had immediately offered the Uchiha to join his ranks. Sasuke had declined, and not so politely. Apparently he had tried to kill Orochimaru, and had almost succeeded. Itachi was secretly proud of his little brother for that. He wished Sasuke had tried harder though.

Anyway, ever since that day, Orochimaru had a personal grudge against the youngest of the Uchiha… Sasuke had a talent for making powerful enemies like that.

"Sasuke has mocked us for long enough now," Madara sighed, leaning his elbows onto the table. "He doesn't respect our rules and he gets away with it every time. We need to get rid of him once and for all."

"Suigetsu has successfully infiltrated his circle of friends," Itachi mentioned, keeping on his expressionless façade.

"Very good," Madara said, pleased. "Do we know their current location?"

Konan took that one. "Suigetsu hasn't communicated with us on that subject yet. But it shouldn't be long."

"Probably just a precaution on his part," Itachi nodded. "Perhaps he hasn't earned their trust yet, so he needs to be careful."

That was good enough, for now. They moved on to the next topic of discussion. Soon Madara and Orochimaru started arguing again, and Itachi sighed and closed his eyes. He couldn't wait for this stupid meeting to be over.

…

Sasuke couldn't believe Kurenai and her people chose to live here. It was way too sunny and hot. He couldn't do it. Even down in the basement he could feel it. Well, he supposed in a way it was a good hiding place for them vampires.

When he finally managed to fall asleep, he was glad not to be haunted by Naruto's dreams or another one of his break downs. Sure, he was a little insensitive. But hey, Naruto just needed to accept it already. Now a part of him was a bloodthirsty monster. Really, it wasn't that big of a deal.

He woke up first. Naruto was sleeping on his other side now, facing him and he had his arm around him too. For a moment there Sasuke caught himself enjoying it. Then he pushed Naruto away – he didn't even wake up – and jumped to his feet. He went to grab some clean clothes from his suitcase before making his way upstairs. There was a small bathroom with a shower stall right next to the kitchen. No one seemed to be up yet. Sasuke pretty much always got up early. He wondered if that was because he was older therefore needed less rest... Or maybe he just really enjoyed seeing the sunset.

Despite his youthful appearance, he had been a vampire for over two hundred years. In a world where Akatsuki kept executing vampires for every random reason, well, let's just say not many got to live that long.

As he showered Sasuke thought of Naruto's arm around his waist earlier. It hadn't been unpleasant…

Even when he was done cleaning himself, Sasuke didn't get out of the shower. He just needed some kind of relief, it had been a while... He was thinking about Naruto, his lean, athletic body, gold skin, blond hair, deep blue eyes, and those lips… and _his blood_.

It wasn't long before he came, leaning his arm against the tiled wall for support. The running water washed away everything and after that Sasuke was done. He heard some voices in the house; some people were waking up. He didn't like it here. There were way too many of them. He'd never be able to get any privacy.

Sighing, he threw on some ripped, faded gray jeans and a striped black and blue sleeveless top. As always he wore his bracelets and chains around his neck. He ruffled his wet black hair in front of the mirror and realized he felt somewhat self-conscious these past few days. He didn't use to care about what other people might think of him. Truth be told, he cared about what Naruto thought of him. Even though it was easy for him to read his mind all the time, he could always force himself to stop or teach Naruto how to block him away. Then why didn't he? He sighed again as he looked himself at the mirror. Great, he was crushing on the new guy.

Damn that Hinata for having such good taste when cheating on her boyfriend with some hot blond teenager.

Now Sasuke wondered if she really had done more than drinking Naruto's blood at that bar. Had she danced with him and kissed him? Oh wow, that was rich. He actually felt jealous at the thought. What the hell was happening to him?

When he finally exited the bathroom he saw that Sakura was up. She was drinking coffee with Kurenai, sitting on stools at the kitchen counter. How human-like, Sasuke thought.

Vampires could drink pretty much any liquid. They just couldn't eat. But coffee, tea, juice or even alcohol was fine. It just sort of dissolved itself in their bodies, he supposed. He was no biology expert, and he wasn't ready to give his body to science, thank you very much. So it was a mystery. But yeah a lot of vampires enjoyed the warmth of hot drinks. A lot of vampires also enjoyed getting drunk. Sasuke wasn't a big fan of any of those things though. He liked human blood and that was it. His new personal favorite was Naruto's blood, even as a vampire… Now that hit the spot. Great now he felt thirsty.

"Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed, "Why don't you join us?"

He tried to stay polite when Kurenai was around. She was their host after all. So he couldn't exactly say, 'Go die Sakura,' and head down to the basement like he would've normally done.

"Maybe later," he said. That was pretty much as polite as he could get.

In the basement Kiba and Shikamaru were still sleeping. Hinata and Suigetsu were sitting on the couch rather awkwardly.

Suigetsu asked her questions like, "So how long have you been with Kiba?" And Hinata shyly answered, "Um, a while…"

Naruto was smoking one of his cigarettes. Well, well…

"Bad habit you have there," Sasuke teased him as he walked over to the mattress in the back of the basement.

Naruto just stared at him. Then he said, "We should really get a tray though."

"Forgot to ask," Sasuke shrugged. He looked at Naruto's dirty, wrinkled clothes and made a face.

He sat on the floor and went through his luggage once more. He could feel Naruto's eyes on him and he smirked discreetly, flipping his bangs to the side. He picked out skinny jeans and a black v-neck tee and threw them at Naruto.

"You want me to wear this?"

"Your powers of deduction," Sasuke said, "amazing."

"Oh shut up," Naruto muttered. "Is there a shower here? I can still feel, ugh, their blood on me…"

Naruto wasn't feeling so well. Sasuke didn't even need to read his mind to figure that out. But he wasn't good with comforting.

So he just said, "Upstairs."

"Thanks…" Naruto said and he walked away.

Suigetsu came to join Sasuke afterwards. He sat on the floor next to him, folding one leg under the other. He was still wearing the gray dress pants, with just the white button down shirt and his tie was loosened. He sat a bit too close for Sasuke's liking. Well, he had to say, the guy wasn't bad looking. His silver hair and violet eyes were strange, but beautiful at once, he supposed. And he definitely wasn't the first vampire he had seen with odd features. Take Kurenai, for example, with her crimson eyes.

"What do you want anyway?" Sasuke asked, glancing at him sideways through long wet bangs.

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you sticking around? You spying on us?"

Sasuke had been watching Suigetsu though. There was no way he could communicate with Akatsuki without Sasuke noticing. He hadn't used a cell phone, didn't even seem to have one. And communicating by thoughts from a long distance wasn't that easy. Sasuke was quite good at detecting stuff like that. No matter what was on his mind, his senses were always alert. Suigetsu hadn't made such an attempt.

"That's what Madara thinks," Suigetsu smiled pleasantly. "But believe it or not, I'm on your side."

"And if I don't believe it, then what?"

"Man, have a little fate in your brother," Suigetsu lost his smile and his deep violet gaze seemed to pierce through Sasuke's eyes all of a sudden. He got very intense. "Itachi's amazing. And he cares about you. He's always protected you from Madara. Why do you think he stays in the Akatsuki, so close to the leaders? Every meeting, every decision, every execution, he's there. He doesn't enjoy it! He does it to make sure nothing's ever gonna happen to you. Now that Madara really, really wants you dead, well, Itachi made sure I was the guy they sent. Don't you get it? I'm a double agent."

Well that was a lot to take in. But Sasuke just couldn't believe it that easily.

"That guy killed our parents. I'm not interested in any sort of brotherly bond or whatever."

"I know about that! He told me. Madara made him do it! You didn't know? Madara can compel vampires, and he can even fuck up their memories. He's that good. There's a reason why he's the leader."

There was a long silence. Naruto was still in the shower upstairs. Kiba had woken up and he was making out and talking softly with Hinata on the couch. They were in their own little world. Shikamaru said something about going upstairs to play a game of chess with Asuma and then he left.

"Maybe if I hear it from him," Sasuke said, "I'll believe him."

Suigetsu nodded, smiling again. "You don't have to believe all of it right now. Just trust me, okay?"

"No," Sasuke said bluntly. "I'm watching you so don't try anything."

He leaned closer – too close. "What are you worried about exactly?" His voice got very low and… suggestive.

Sasuke parted his lips, deliberately showing his fangs. "Just _don't_ try anything, got it?"

"I don't think we're talking about the same thing here," Suigetsu chuckled softly. "I'm talking about this."

He kissed him, closing his eyes. Before Sasuke pushed him away, Suigetsu had the time to get a taste, going so far as sliding his tongue past his lips.

"What the fuck..."

"Oh come on Sasuke!" Suigetsu laughed, pushing him down onto the floor and pinning his wrists on either side of his face, "I like you, you know? You're like Itachi but… _cuter_. And Itachi's already taken anyway. You're not – yet – so can't I take my chance?"

What was up with this guy? Seriously… For some reason Sasuke didn't push him away just yet. Maybe he was horny, or something. Despite his session in the shower.

"We're stuck in some basement, nothing to do, and these two are… well…" He glanced over at Kiba and Hinata. Yeah they were making out.

Suigetsu leaned in to kiss him again. This time Sasuke kissed back, more out of curiosity than anything. He hadn't done anything like this in years. Well he had kissed some humans but that was just to fool them and take advantage of them to drink their blood. Kissing a vampire was different. They were... more intense; there was no holding back. In other words you didn't have to worry about the fangs. Suigetsu wasn't a bad kisser. Just for a little while, Sasuke thought. And the shower had stopped. Naruto would come back downstairs any time now. He was curious as to how Naruto would react.

"You can use me to make him jealous," Suigetsu whispered against his lips, "I don't mind."

Sometimes it didn't take a lot to make Sasuke very angry. He freed his arms, pushed Suigetsu harshly, flipping their positions over so he was the one pinning him down.

"That works too," Suigetsu smiled, "I'm pretty versatile."

"Shut up," Sasuke hissed, "and don't ever, ever read my thoughts again." He'd let his guard down for a moment there.

"What about that guy?" Suigetsu turned his head to look at Naruto when he walked down the stairs. "You do it to him all the time and you don't seem too guilty about it."

On the couch, Kiba and Hinata pulled away from each other as they also heard Naruto approach. They seemed to remember that the world still existed around them.

"Oh hey Naruto," Kiba cleared his throat.

By the time Kiba looked in their direction, Sasuke had already pulled away from Suigetsu. Naruto had seen them though, and he seemed very confused.

Sasuke was indeed hypocritical, because he reached out to read his mind. Oh, well. Naruto was thinking that Sasuke was some kind of man whore now.

Casually, Sasuke walked over to him and brushed his shoulder, before whispering in his ear, "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not that easy. By the way, my clothes look good on you."

Naruto freshly showered, dressed all in dark, tight clothes was indeed quite a sight. Sasuke didn't mind lending him his clothes if he got to look at him.

Something troubled Naruto's mind; thirst. That was pretty much the reason why he couldn't find anything to say. His thoughts were filled with blood and he was practically going insane. Damn, newbie vamps needed to drink a lot, didn't they? That was a bother.

"We'll go out tonight," Sasuke decided out loud.

At the same time Ino was coming downstairs. She wore a similar short dress as the night before, only this one was blue and green. Her long hair was down and she couldn't have had more makeup around her eyes.

"That's a brilliant idea!" she exclaimed. "We can all go to my favorite place. You'll see, Sasuke, you'll like it. It's amazing."

"I doubt it," Sasuke muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I don't think it's a good idea," Naruto looked down, frowning, "for me to go in a place full of people right now…"

"Of course it's a great idea," Kiba added, getting up to his feet. "We can show you how to feed from a human without killing them!"

This had been on Naruto's mind for quite some time now, Sasuke knew. But this time it seemed he just couldn't help himself. It had to come out.

"Oh yeah? Like how Hinata did with me?" He stared in turn at Kiba and his girlfriend.

Of course, she burst out crying. She ran upstairs, possibly wanting to get as far away from Naruto as she could.

"What a cry baby," Ino commented.

"Hey shut up," Kiba told her before going after Hinata.

So it was just Ino, Suigetsu, Sasuke and Naruto in the basement. They discussed their plans for the night. The others might not join them but it didn't matter.

"Do people get really drunk at that club?" Suigetsu asked.

"Yeah," Ino shrugged slightly, brushing her long blonde locks behind her shoulder.

"Perfect," Sasuke said. He was thirsty. Drunken people were easier to fool.

Naruto wasn't talking much. He was looking at the stairs.

"That was kinda harsh wasn't it? Maybe I should go apologize to her."

"Why?" Sasuke looked at Naruto and he held his gaze. "She did almost kill you. So don't apologize."

"But I think she feels guilty enough already though," Naruto said sadly.

Sasuke couldn't help but say, "You're way too kind."

Ino crossed her arms, "So are you gonna explain what's that all about anyway?"

Sasuke sighed. Might as well. "Hinata went out and drank Naruto's blood – almost all of it. I mean it's not that complicated to understand."

"Then she changed you?" Ino asked, looking at Naruto.

"Not exactly…"

Sasuke repressed another sigh. He hated having to explain everything himself. "I changed him, all right?"

"That's so unlike you," Ino took a step back, shocked, as she looked at Sasuke like she didn't know him anymore.

"Newsflash baby," Suigetsu said, all smiles, "Sasuke's not into ladies. He saw something he liked, so he changed him instead of letting him die. Am I the only one with a brain here? You guys make me laugh. Enough talking! When are we going out?"

Naruto's cheeks were dark pink by now. Sasuke ignored him. He ignored all of them. They were being annoying. Suigetsu was right, actually; enough talking. Sasuke went to get his pack of smokes – what was left of it – and his lighter which he shoved in his jeans' pocket. Meanwhile Ino was muttering something about all vampires being pretty much bisexual anyway.

"I'm ready when you are," Sasuke said.

"I like the sound of that," Suigetsu smiled. "I'll go take a shower and get changed it'll just be five minutes."

"Better make it three," Sasuke warned him, "I'm _very_ thirsty."

Suigetsu leaned very close to him and lowered his voice. Ino was watching them in shock and Naruto seemed awkward and embarrassed.

"If you wanna taste," Suigetsu bit his lip, his face close to Sasuke's ear, "I can give you some of mine on the way there… Think about it."

He kissed his neck before walking away. Sasuke wondered why he had let him do that. Then he looked at Naruto's expression and remembered. Ah, yes, he was curious to see how he would react.

Well, he wasn't reacting so well.

"What so you two are a thing now?" He frowned, shaking his head. "That was fast. I thought you hated him!"

"Thought you hated me," Sasuke tilted his head, a hint of smile curling his lips. "So why do you care?"

That shut him up.

Ino cleared her throat. "Let's just go…"

Sasuke went to climb up the stairs but he looked behind his shoulder and said, "You guys can go ahead but I'm gonna wait for Suigetsu."

The expression on Naruto's face was absolutely endearing. It was a mix of hatred and frustration and so many other things and Sasuke liked it. Sure he missed his house in Japan but this was fun… And the night was young.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Drunk blood

Konan's eyes snapped open. She had been completely focused for a few minutes there, while communicating with Suigetsu. It wasn't that easy; they were in London and Suigetsu was currently in Tunisia after all. He had finally found a moment to safely isolate himself and communicate with her. Only she had the ability to do this. Madara couldn't know about this though. He couldn't know the location of Suigetsu, Sasuke and the others.

Deidara asked, "What'd he say?"

It was just the three of them – Konan, Deidara and Itachi – in a nice condo in a residential area. Deidara was the youngest vampire in the higher ups of Akatsuki right now. But he had potential, according to Madara anyway. Deidara often said that he had joined more out of boredom than anything. However, after a few years, he had become close to Itachi, as well as Konan and Suigetsu.

"They're safe," Konan said. "For now. Suigetsu doesn't know how long Sasuke intends to stay hidden there. Actually he thinks Sasuke's not quite sure himself what his next move should be. Also he said Sasuke's been asking a lot of questions."

Itachi frowned slightly. "How much did he tell him?"

Konan bit her lip. She knew the situation between Itachi and his brother was rather delicate.

"He didn't say," she made a slight shrug.

"So do we tell Madara?" Deidara asked, scratching his long blonde hair.

"Of course not," Itachi said sharply as he sat next to him on the couch. "Although I don't really know why I bother. He'll probably find out no matter what..."

"Yeah," Konan said darkly.

"Spies everywhere," Deidara added.

There was a moment of silence. They were all drinking blood. Akatsuki had a stash at their headquarters, from people compelled to stop by every day to donate some blood. Akatsuki was very cruel with vampires, but careful when it came to humans. With the blood donor clinic cover, no humans died, so no one could suspect anything.

"But," Deidara shifted, folding his legs and facing Itachi, "in the case that he doesn't find out. Madara's gonna interrogate Konan. He'll know something's up if she keeps telling him she's got nothing."

"I know that," Itachi replied, sighing.

"Do we come up with a lie then?" Konan asked.

She sat across the room from them and next to the wide screen television, where the series Game of thrones was playing. Every time she paid attention to it, there were people either fighting or fucking. Oh well.

"I kinda like that Daenerys girl," Deidara commented.

Konan sighed as she turned off the TV.

"Hey I was watching that…"

"Deidara," Itachi said, "focus, please."

"All right fine!" he exclaimed. "So why don't we tell him your brother's, I don't know, in Russia? In the North. Lots of vamps there. And it's so huge. Good hiding place. Believable enough, right? Besides it will take him forever to dispatch enough man power to search through freaking Russia of all places."

"It's too risky. He's been following Sasuke for years. Sasuke's got some contacts here and there in the world but none in Russia. He'll know we're lying," Itachi looked down, a few long bangs falling into his face.

"How?" Deidara shouted, clearly annoyed with this argument.

"You have no idea what Madara is capable of. He'll know we're lying for sure."

"Why can't we send him to another one of Sasuke's contacts then?" Deidara asked.

"They'll get killed because of us," Itachi said calmly. "And I don't want that."

"I could tell him I still got nothing and I think Suigetsu's been killed since he couldn't earn their trust," Konan suggested.

While Itachi thought about this he glanced around the room. This was Deidara's place. On his walls was an impressive collection of posters he had made himself. Some of them illustrated a historically famous explosion for example. Others were his own creations. He called it art but to Itachi it just looked like a mess of colors that looked like, well, an explosion. Or fireworks. Deidara was a special guy.

"I think we should go with that," Itachi finally said, crossing his legs and putting his half-empty glass on the coffee table.

"It's risky but—" Konan started.

"He'll believe it," Itachi finished for her.

"Can we watch Game of thrones now?" Deidara asked.

…

Naruto felt so thirsty. He was dizzy and weak and some kind of predator instinct seemed to be trying to take over his sanity. Now, as they walked toward some bar popular with tourists according to Ino, well he was still in control. But he wasn't sure how long that would last.

Sasuke walked with him and that helped. He kept sending him glances but Naruto ignored him. It helped to have him close but he really didn't want to look weak in front of him. He kept convincing himself that he was going to be okay, that he wouldn't hurt anyone. And he didn't want to have a mental breakdown or a panic attack about it. Okay, so apparently he had become a bloodthirsty monster. But he could handle it. His personality was still there, and he was a nice guy. He was no killer. He couldn't let that new side of him take over. He wouldn't.

They walked behind Suigetsu and Ino. And Kiba had also tagged along, although Hinata had preferred staying behind at the house. Naruto thought that maybe she was avoiding him, which would be understandable. He had the feeling that she was a really nice person despite the fact that she had almost killed him. He actually wanted to have a normal conversation with her very soon. It was a long shot, but maybe they could move past this and try to get along.

As they walked Suigetsu questioned Ino about the particular bar they were about to visit. Kiba trailed behind, hands in his jeans pockets. Sasuke was quiet.

Naruto thought about the life he had left behind, back in Japan. He didn't miss it that much actually. He had other things on his mind, like blood, for example. Damn, he needed to stop thinking about that. Okay, so his life had been far from perfect – going from foster home to foster home and then ending up in some shitty apartment which he could barely afford with a drug dealer for a roommate and friends that didn't truly know him nor cared about him at school, where he was pretty much failing every class – but it was still better than being a monster with urges and cravings to kill humans by draining all of their blood from their veins. Right? So maybe he should miss his old life a bit more.

"There's more to being a vampire," Sasuke said quietly as he leaned a bit closer. "It's not just about blood."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto said bitterly as he watched a group of teenagers talking next to their car across the street. He could feel their hearts beating and their hot blood… "Cause it seems to me it's all about the fucking blood. And it's disgusting. And stop mind raping me!"

Sasuke ignored that last part. "What about the heightened senses?"

So Naruto had to admit that the starry night sky was incredibly beautiful, among other things. He could see it in such amazing details. It was as if he'd suffered from bad eyesight his whole life and now he could finally see clearly. And he wasn't that great at using it yet, but he could hear conversations from afar if he was concentrated enough. He could hear the music inside people's houses and apartments.

"_And you can hear my thoughts."_

That was Sasuke's voice, but he hadn't spoken out loud. Naruto was so startled that he stopped. Kiba bumped into him.

"Dude, watch it!" He said then looked in turn at Naruto and Sasuke. He shook his head in disbelief and continued walking after Ino and Suigetsu.

"I did it on purpose," Sasuke said before Naruto could ask how he had been able to read his thoughts for once.

"You can do that?" Naruto's blue eyes widened as they faced each other on the sidewalk.

"_You have more smart questions like that?"_

Naruto glared at him. "Get out of my head it's creepy."

He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked off. Sasuke followed.

"As I was saying, there's more to being a vampire, although of course drinking blood is one of the best experiences…"

"Shut up," Naruto snapped. He didn't want to hear it. This wasn't helping his thirst.

Sasuke chuckled; what a dick. He was amused by all this, wasn't he?

"You're immortal," Sasuke said. "You don't get it now, but in a few years it'll start to kick in, and you'll realize that the world is yours. That's an amazing feeling."

"I thought I was just gonna get killed by these Akatsuki assholes?" Naruto said, averting his eyes. He still resented Sasuke telling him that on the very first day.

Sasuke surprised him though. When he replied he sounded sincere and slightly emotional – which was big for him.

"If you stick around… that shouldn't happen. The Akatsuki's been after me for more than two hundred years and I'm still here."

The way he said it, it sounded almost as if Sasuke actually wanted him to stick around. But it was probably Naruto's imagination.

Sasuke stopped walking and grabbed his arm. They faced each other on the sidewalk again. By now they had almost lost the others. But they weren't far from the club. They could already hear the music.

"Look," Sasuke's dark gray eyes were so deep and intense as he looked at Naruto like he really wanted to get through to him. He was still holding his arm and it was like Naruto was hypnotized all of a sudden. He didn't want to get away, and even if he did, he couldn't have. "I know the circumstances are… strange," he said, "but I'm your maker. Even though you can't understand it now, that _means_ something."

Sure Naruto couldn't understand it fully, but still, he had a pretty good idea. There was this strange… sort of bond between them. It was the reason why he was so attracted to Sasuke despite himself, and the reason why he wasn't trying to get away from him right now.

The moment didn't last. Sasuke let go of him and then he was off. After a few seconds Naruto followed him, staying a little behind as he didn't know what to say.

When they got closer to the short line up for the club Sasuke told him, "Come, I'll show you how to feed. And don't worry, you won't hurt anyone. Even if you lose control, I'll be there to stop you."

Naruto was scared out of his mind. But he chose to trust him, because he wasn't sure he could go on much longer without drinking any blood.

Using compulsion, Sasuke got them inside in no time, and they didn't have to pay for anything. Sasuke walked inside like he owned the place, all confident and sexy – Naruto had to admit – in his dark, stylish outfit and with that perfect pale skin, black hair and wicked smirk on his nice lips. Naruto watched him as he found his way to a clearly drunk girl with sun kissed skin and ridiculously long, messy bleached hair. She was skinny and could have been pretty but the way she could barely hold herself straight wasn't very attractive.

Sasuke slid his arms around her and smiled as they started dancing together. Damn, that guy had some moves. Naruto was impressed. Not that he had tried to picture Sasuke dancing in a club before, but if he had he would've probably imagined something awkward and way too serious. It was quite the opposite. Sasuke was putting up an act, probably, to fool this girl into thinking that he was into her. Well, it was working.

Naruto was leaning onto the bar counter, and a bartender glared at him since he wasn't ordering anything. Naruto ignored him. Suigetsu found him and asked him what he was up to.

"I think Sasuke's gonna feed… from that girl," he said in a low voice, indicating Sasuke on the dance floor.

Suigetsu followed his glance. He wore a bright purple tank top with silver skinny jeans. Needless to say, some people stared at him, not all appreciative of his strange style. Naruto didn't mind. He thought Suigetsu seemed like an okay guy. Also he tried to convince himself that he was absolutely not jealous if Suigetsu and Sasuke hooked up. Not in the slightest. Why would he be? Just like he wasn't jealous that Sasuke was kissing that girl right now. Of course not.

"Making out with two people in one day," Suigetsu teased, "he's quite the player isn't he? Worried he won't save any for you?"

"Shut the fuck up I don't even care," Naruto said and regretted it right away - damn why did he have to sound so childish and uncool? He kept watching. Sasuke was now kissing the girl's neck. How had the girl not noticed that he had fangs? He wondered. "He's not gonna hurt her is he?"

But as he said this, Sasuke sank his sharp teeth in the girl's neck. Naruto could actually smell her blood. Of course, no one but the two vampires noticed this. The dance floor was too crowded with intoxicated young people. Naruto made a move toward them instinctively – and at this point he was so thirsty that he wasn't even sure if he wanted to share this girl's blood or save her from Sasuke – but Suigetsu held him back.

"Wait. You'll see."

Soon Sasuke stopped drinking and Naruto could smell his maker's blood. It had a particular aroma. Naruto desired it just as much as human blood although it was a somewhat different craving – more like lust. He blushed at the thought. This was all so weird and new to him.

It was just a few drops of Sasuke's blood so that the girl's injury would heal. He wondered how he knew this. Instinct, maybe? God, he really was just like an animal now. But it worked. The girl just looked even drunker than before now, if possible. There were no marks on her neck.

After this Sasuke smiled as he walked over to Naruto and Suigetsu. He ignored the latter and stood right next to Naruto. Their arms and their hips were touching. Naruto held his breath.

"Your turn," Sasuke said heatedly.

"Are you drunk?" Suigetsu asked.

"Shut up," Sasuke said too quickly.

"Oh my god you are, just how much did _she_ drink to make you drunk?"

"Okay," Naruto chuckled, "wait a second. You're telling me vamp- I mean we can actually get drunk?"

"Some of us are more affected by it than others," Suigetsu laughed, nudging Sasuke.

"I feel fine," the raven snapped, lowering his voice threateningly, "so stop before I break your neck. You think I didn't notice that little conversation you had with your Akatsuki friends when you were in the shower?"

Suigetsu seemed shocked at first, but then he made a joke of it. "You mean to tell me you were listening to what was going on in my head while I was in the shower? You dirty bastard."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. I know what you told them. Using telepathy from such a distance - I wasn't sure it was possible. The person on the other end, they're quite skilled. I couldn't hear what they said back to you. But you're going to tell me."

"Or not..." Suigetsu tried to play it cool but he was clearly getting a bit nervous.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke hesitated, averting his eyes from them both now. Eventually he said, "Nothing. It's none of your concern. Suigetsu, we'll talk later. Naruto, choose your prey and go ahead. Impress me. And don't worry I got your back."

He was standing too close. His voice did sound a bit slurred. Naruto wondered if he would get drunk as well if he drank from some really intoxicated girl.

So he found his way to the middle of the dance floor and he did just that.

He ended up in the arms of a dark-skinned young girl. She had thick black hair, dark brown eyes and her smile and movements revealed that she was quite drunk.

"You're so cute," she said in his ear with her exotic accent.

"So are you," he replied but opening his mouth, even just to say a few words, had been a bad idea. He could barely control his bloodlust. He didn't want to hurt her though.

He glanced behind his shoulder and saw that Sasuke wasn't far. He nodded, encouraging him. Naruto felt reassured. Well, if Sasuke was going to stop him, then it was okay, wasn't it? After all, Sasuke didn't want any trouble, so there was no way he was going to let Naruto kill her.

So thinking that it was safe, he leaned closer to her neck. God he wanted her blood so badly…

"Whoa," she pushed him away and looked at his face, "what's up with your teeth?" She seemed a bit freaked out, but not too much. She probably thought that they were fake, because as far as everyone knew, vampires didn't exist.

But Naruto hesitated. So maybe she wasn't drunk enough. How come the girl Sasuke had been with hadn't freaked out when he bit her neck? How could Naruto accomplish the same…?

In an instant Sasuke was next to him. The black-haired girl gave him the once over and smiled. So maybe she was drunk enough after all. Sasuke showing up seemed to make her forget all about the whole fangs issue.

Sasuke shifted closer to her and slid one arm around her waist as he locked eyes with hers.

"You're going to let him drink your blood," he said in a low, calm voice. She nodded, dazed. "You're not going to scream or do anything to attract attention." Another nod. Right, Naruto thought, so compulsion might be necessary in a moment like this. Why hadn't Sasuke warned him before? At the back of his mind he wondered if Hinata had pulled this trick on him, too. Probably.

So after that Sasuke winked at him and let him drink the girl's blood. Finally he got to taste this delicious thick, red treat. He held the girl in his arms and let his thirst consume him at last. He didn't care that he was hurting her anymore. The beast within his mind took over completely. The blood flooding his mouth and filling him whole as he swallowed large gulp after gulp made him feel so alive and strong.

Unfortunately the fun had to stop. Sasuke put a firm hand on his shoulder. When that wasn't enough his thoughts reached him.

"_Naruto, stop, now."_

At the moment he was nothing but a young, thirsty vampire and he was quite stubborn. But Sasuke's voice in his head was a command he couldn't disobey. He didn't understand it but it was like he was forced to remove himself from the girl. Sasuke took his place, bit his finger and let his blood fall on the girl's neck, healing her.

"Forget this ever happened," he said simply as their eyes met and the girl nodded one last time.

Then Sasuke took Naruto's arm and led him toward the exit. Naruto was still thirsty. He was trembling. He had stopped too soon; he needed more. Just tasting that woman's blood had made things even worst. As Sasuke led him outside he turned to stare at pretty much every human in the place, letting the sound of their heartbeats fill his feverish body. He couldn't think about anything else. The only thing stronger than his bloodlust was the will to obey his maker. So he followed him, all the way to the back of the club where the alley was much quieter.

The moonlight shone upon them, as well as the city lights and Sasuke's black hair tinted blue in the dark. Naruto was pinned to the brick wall and he didn't protest. His eyes lidded as Sasuke moved even closer. He could smell the bittersweet aroma of Sasuke's blood, and the exotic fruits shampoo scent lingering in his hair. He looked at his nice, full lips then back at his dark gray eyes. They seemed almost black right now.

Sasuke slid his thigh between Naruto's legs. Naruto slid his arm around his thin waist.

"You're still thirsty aren't you?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah," he whispered needily. He wanted a taste of Sasuke's blood.

"Maybe," Sasuke replied, "if you ask nicely…"

So Naruto wasn't himself right now. He felt light-headed and quite shaky. He could only think about blood. But despite all of that, he still had his dignity. He wasn't going to beg for it.

Sasuke smiled. "I like you. You have a strong will. It's impressive."

"Well I don't like you. But I'd like some of your blood... Was that nicely asked?" He teased.

"Not really," Sasuke growled in a low voice and Naruto realized just how close their lips were. He also noticed his arm was still around Sasuke's waist. If he pulled him just a little closer they would be kissing.

It happened, just like that. Apparently Sasuke was thinking the same thing, because he removed the distance between them and pulled him into a breathtaking kiss. There was nothing Naruto could do. He felt too weak and, yeah, he loved it. He didn't want to enjoy it but Sasuke was just such an amazing kisser. The way his lips moved against his was hypnotizing him. Sasuke knew just when to pull back and when to kiss him so intensely. He knew just when to use his tongue and when to graze his lip slightly with his fang. Naruto moaned as both arms were now hugging Sasuke's thin frame.

Sasuke's leg was still in between his thighs, rubbing and it was making Naruto so hard. He didn't want to. He liked girls, so he didn't want to be doing something like this with a guy. But this guy… he was something else entirely. He was so damn hot.

"You're not bad yourself," Sasuke whispered against the corner of his lips as he ran his fingers through Naruto's blonde locks. He kissed him again and Naruto's entire body responded passionately.

Soon after he was drinking from Sasuke's neck. He wasn't sure how it had happened. At this point everything seemed hazy, like it was just a dream. But it was very much real, and Sasuke's blood was the most amazing thing he had ever tasted.

He clung to Sasuke desperately as he took a large amount of blood from him.

Only when Sasuke's body started going weak in his arms did he realize what he was doing. How long had it lasted? He had taken too much. Why hadn't Sasuke stopped him?

Reluctantly he withdrew his fangs and pulled away. The wound on Sasuke's neck started healing right away. But Sasuke himself was leaning into him, eyes barely open and if Naruto let go of him he would fall on the concrete. Naruto felt so powerful now, after drinking so much. He flipped over their positions and pinned Sasuke to the wall a little too harshly. He felt bad but he had trouble controlling his strength.

Sasuke winced but then he chuckled softly. "It's okay," he said, "I like it rough…"

Naruto held his thin, pale shoulders and forced Sasuke to look at him.

"So what just happened?"

"Mm… I don't know, were you trying to kill me?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you? You could've just asked me to stop, like you did before with that girl."

"I was just joking Naruto something like this can't kill me."

Naruto didn't like seeing him like this for some reason. He didn't know how to act here. He felt like the roles were reversed. He pushed Sasuke into the brick wall and leaned even closer.

"Look if you expect an apology…"

Sasuke shook his head. Then he kissed him again. Naruto was more himself now though, he had regained his senses. So he pushed him harshly against the wall once more, pulling away from the kiss. But he was still holding him up.

"Careful," Sasuke laughed, "you trying to make this wall collapse or what?"

"You're still drunk aren't you?" He looked into his maker's eyes. "You don't take alcohol too well."

"It's not just that," he said, an amused glint in his eyes as he lifted a pale hand to place it at the back of Naruto's neck, caressing his long blonde locks.

"So why'd you let me drink so much?"

"You needed it," Sasuke said simply. "Newborn vampires are supposed to drink _a lot_ of blood. You haven't had enough."

"I do feel better now," Naruto admitted. But he wasn't about to say thank you.

"You're welcome," Sasuke teased.

He pushed him so hard against the wall that Sasuke hit the back of his head.

"Stop that! My thoughts are private, got it?"

"If you stop pushing me into the wall I'll teach you how to hide your thoughts from me."

Naruto immediately let go of him. At the moment, there was nothing he wanted more than to be able to keep his thoughts a secret.

Sasuke let himself crawl to the floor, where he sat with his boots flat against the concrete. He rubbed the back of his head with one hand.

"So?" Naruto asked expectantly, "How do I do it?"

His maker looked up at him with a lazy smile. "You have to help me up first." He held out his hand.

Naruto rolled his eyes but he took it. Sasuke pulled on his arm with unexpected strength though, making him fall on top of him. He caught him in his arms and smirked.

"There, all better."

Naruto had no choice but to sit on top of him, knees on either side of Sasuke's legs. He sighed.

"What if someone sees us? Two guys together that's not… accepted everywhere in the world you know?"

"Aw," Sasuke teased, "look at all the fucks I give."

Frustration overwhelmed Naruto and he pulled away from him.

"Whatever. I don't even care if you don't teach me how to… hide my thoughts or whatever. Do you know what I'm thinking right now? That I hate you. And what we did, just now, well it's never gonna happen again."

Sasuke got up. Apparently he had regained enough strength. His smile was gone.

"What you mean making out or drinking my blood? Cause I thought you seemed to be enjoying both."

"Fuck you." He walked away.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" Sasuke mocked him.

Naruto just kept walking. He didn't even know which direction was Kurenai's house. But he knew one thing. He couldn't stay near Sasuke.


	7. Chapter 7

_I'm sorry it's been such a long time, but at least I think this is a good one. Enjoy!_

Chapter 7

Hurt pride

Sasuke found Suigetsu texting on the sidewalk right in front of the night club. When he noticed Sasuke approaching, he flipped his silver hair to the side and smiled nervously, shoving the cell phone in his pale jeans pocket.

"Hey, Sasuke, what's up?"

He reached out and stole the phone from him, before looking at the text he'd been about to send.

_Sasuke's on to me. I think texting is safer at this point."_

He looked up and Suigetsu shrugged and tried to laugh it off. "It's nothing, I just thought…"

"Nothing?" Sasuke repeated angrily. "Whose phone is this? If Madara or whoever the fuck else in that stupid organization finds this text they can probably trace back the number to here."

"I had to take the chance…"

Sasuke interrupted him again. "Why? So you could text this? Seriously?"

"You don't understand! I wasn't done."

"What else did you want to tell them?"

They were raising their voices and a few people around stared. Suigetsu sighed, leaning a bit closer to Sasuke.

"I wanted to ask if Shino is an undercover agent from the Akatsuki."

Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. "Shino? An undercover agent? What is this now some cop show?"

"Yes! I mean no! Why do I have to explain everything?"

"Shino's just a friend of Kiba's and Ino's and he's been living with Kurenai and Asuma for a long time. As far as I'm concerned he's no threat."

"I thought you were supposed to be smart," Suigetsu said impatiently. "Look, the Akatsuki keeps old, powerful vampires in check. They're good at doing that. They don't want anybody else to form a group like theirs. So they need someone undercover, like with Kurenai and Asuma for exemple."

"Why Shino?" Sasuke asked, still doubtful.

"Because he doesn't stand out," Suigetsu spread his arms. "See? You never suspected a thing."

"And why did you?"

"Uh, maybe cause he followed us here."

Sasuke frowned. "You didn't think of telling me this before?"

"You were too busy with your boyfriend."

"Is that jealousy I detect in your tone? Cause I don't have time for drama Suigetsu."

"From the guy who makes out with three people in one night."

"Can we skip to the part where you tell me where Shino is right now so I can go break his neck?"

"I don't know where he is," Suigetsu sighed, looking away. "He was watching us from a distance the whole time but he just left a few minutes ago."

"So did Naruto," Sasuke mused. "You think he's following him?"

A cold chill in the night air sent shivers running down his spine. Suigetsu placed his hand on the small of Sasuke's back briefly.

"Come on we'd better go after them."

They started walking very quickly, senses alert. Suigetsu demanded his phone back.

"Can I send my text now?"

Sasuke threw the phone on the concrete and crushed it with his boot as he walked past it. Suigetsu rolled his eyes.

"I guess I'll take that as a no…"

After a little while Sasuke got frustrated. They had almost reached Kurenai's house and still nothing.

"I can't feel anything. Naruto isn't there. That idiot probably got lost. Where the hell are they?"

"Next time you might consider keeping him on a leash," Suigetsu said.

A few minutes later they stood in front of the house and indeed Naruto and Shino weren't inside. Kiba, Hinata, Sakura and Shikamaru were in there as well as Kurenai and Asuma; but no trace of the two others.

Sasuke pushed the door open harshly as he was ready to demand answers.

"Sasuke?" Hinata said softly as she looked up. She had been playing some board game with Kiba and the others. Vampires playing board games.

"Where's Naruto?" Kiba asked.

"That's what I'd like to know," he frowned and looked over at Kurenai. "What can you tell me about Shino?"

…

Naruto hadn't seen it coming. He had been so troubled by everything that had happened recently, more specifically between Sasuke and him. He should've been more careful.

That guy whose name he couldn't even remember had showed up out of nowhere as he was walking in the city at night. At first Naruto had been glad to see him, thinking he could ask directions to figure out his way back to the house. After all, he wouldn't want to be outside when the sun came up.

But before Naruto could even begin to ask anything, the vampire had attacked him. His appearance was pretty sketchy, he later noticed, with his black shades and hood pulled over his head. Naruto wouldn't have recognized him at all if it weren't for the vampire sixth sense thing.

So he attacked but Naruto defended himself fairly well at first. He was high off Sasuke's blood and he felt powerful.

"The fuck are you doing?" He asked, annoyed with this situation.

The strange guy didn't answer. He was very calm as he continued attacking him relentlessly. His technique was different from Sasuke's or those guys from the Akatsuki who had attacked them back in Japan. He was just always trying to grab him and push him down. Through the fight he led Naruto to an alley between two closed stores and pinned his legs to the ground harshly while holding his arms behind his back, bending them in an unnatural way. Naruto had no idea how it happened. Before he knew it, he was screaming out in pain because his arms were breaking.

"Let me go you asshole," he practically sobbed. He wanted to be strong but he was simply so sick and tired of all this. He didn't want this life. He wanted nothing to do with it.

"Sorry," the guy said calmly, "I've got nothing against you personally. I'm just doing my job."

Naruto struggled like crazy but there was no way he could get free from that guy's hold. He was too strong.

He flinched when he heard gun shots. Then he realized. There were humans standing on the side of the street, holding guns in their hands, and they had shot him. And the pain was a few seconds to come, strangely enough. But it did as Naruto's blood gushed out from the wounds onto the ground. He wanted to scream out in pain once more but no sound came out. He was losing consciousness. He felt like he was dying. He thought that this maybe wasn't such a bad thing. But at the same time survival instinct kicked in and he struggled weakly one last time before passing out.

…

They were in a plane when he woke up. More precisely in the back section of a small plane. Naruto was restrained, his hands tied behind his back. His arms still hurt, and his chest where he had been shot. But the bullets were out. His body was healing itself. No matter how amazing that was, he still felt like shit. His mouth and throat were dry. He was so thirsty.

Coming out of his daze, he saw that the vampire with the shades and hoodie was in here, watching him. There were also two others, wearing black shirts with red clouds on them. These were Akatsuki assholes, for sure. Naruto had been caught and he felt like a complete idiot.

He felt so weak that the sound of the plane's engine almost lulled him back to sleep. But his strong will kept him awake. He needed to find a way to get out of here. Because he wasn't sure what Akatsuki would do to him, but it sure couldn't be anything good.

Naruto wanted to see outside but the windows were blocked. Shit, it couldn't be day already. That would mean they were far away. He tried to calm himself, even though his heart was beating really fast in fear. Well, call it a vampire's special ability or whatever, but he had the feeling it was still night. He couldn't have been unconscious for very long. Sasuke had given him so much blood earlier. He had felt so strong and he still did, no matter what. So he had to find a way out.

"Hey, where are we going?"

Shades and hoodie guy stared at him for a moment, as though surprised he was awake. Then he said, "It would be better if you stayed quiet, Naruto."

"What do you want from me?"

"You're on the Akatsuki's wanted list. Ideally I should've brought you and Sasuke together but I figured it'd be easier to deal with one at a time. You know, take the weakest one out first."

Naruto sat up straight, angry. He struggled, trying to figure out if his arms were healed enough to break out of his ties.

"I'm not the weakest one!"

One of the other Akatsuki guys scoffed at that. "Says the guy who was taken out in less than two minutes. By Shino of all people."

"Hey shut up," the other replied.

Ah yeah, so that was his name. Naruto remembered now.

"You bastard," he spat. "You were supposed to be friends with Kiba, and… and that blonde girl and those other people. You were with Akatsuki the whole time?"

"Aren't you a sharp one," Shino said although he was clearly mocking him. Naruto knew that much. But he didn't care about that. He was getting stronger every second.

He clenched his fists, gathered his strength, and gave it his all. Before the others could react, the ropes got weaker until they broke completely. There were bloodied marks on Naruto's arms but he barely even noticed. He was mad with rage. His emotions were heightened. He felt like a wild creature who couldn't even control itself. He was thirsty – bloodthirsty.

Naruto fought the two guys he didn't know. The space was too restrained for Shino to enter the fight too. He seemed a bit panicked as he watched. It didn't last long. Naruto used fists, knees, elbows, and even his head to hit them. As he crushed them loudly to the floor of the plane flashes of his previous fight with Akatsuki filled his mind; a head cracking open on a rock, blood splashing everywhere. And now he was doing it again. He had become a killer. There was no going back.

The small room was filled with blood. As Naruto looked up, he couldn't see Shino anywhere. A door was open so Naruto headed there, breathing hard, fists still clenched. Apparently Shino was trying to pilot this thing.

"It was on automatic," he explained without turning to look at Naruto. "Now is no time to fight. You damaged the plane while fighting you idiot if you keep this up we're going to crash."

"I don't care!" He yelled so harshly that Shino did look behind his shoulder this time. Naruto frowned. "How stupid do you think I am? I'm not letting you take me to the Akatsuki headquarters to be executed. I'd rather crash the damn plane…"

There were windows here; they were above the sea and the lights of dawn were coming. Apparently Shino was protected by his getup. But Naruto's skin started to hurt. He ignored it though. His maddened blue eyes saw the exit door and Shino tried to block his way but he was pushed aside roughly. Naruto forced the door open and he threw himself out without thinking twice. The plane was going to crash anyway. It was out of control, no matter what Shino tried.

Naruto was covered in blood, gashes, bruises and scars from all the fighting. He was physically and emotionally drained. But somehow he knew he wasn't going to die. This went through his head as he fell in the sky. And the funny thing was, despite the situation, well it was quite something to fall from this height. He actually enjoyed this moment of pure freedom. Until, after what seemed like such a long time even though it really wasn't, he sank in the water.

It was so cold, ice cold. He was so deep in the sea. The cold was seeping through his ripped off clothes and all the way to his bones, it seemed. He started swimming but he wasn't reaching the surface. Could vampires breathe underwater? No – he found out soon enough. Well, then could they die from drowning? Just as he started panicking and choking, his legs kicked and trashed and finally he emerged. The oxygen filled his lungs and he coughed a few times, waves crashing in his face.

But drowning seemed like the least of his problems now. The sun was coming out. Fear seized his heart. There was such a long distance to the shore. He felt like he was enveloped by the darkness of the water. He had always been scared by the seas and oceans; scared of the unknown. Who knew what could be lurking in there? Okay so maybe he was being paranoid, but he still didn't like it.

He jumped out of his skin when he heard a loud crash in the distance. Of course, the plane. Well, at least now he knew in which direction to go. So he started swimming. What if Shino was still alive, or those two other guys? Surely they would come after him. There was no time to lose.

Soon his skin hurt too much and he couldn't take it anymore. Naruto was scared and he felt so vulnerable. But his body was strong and fast, thank god. He would have to thank Sasuke for all that powerful blood he had given him. Well maybe not thank him. He hated that bastard. Stupid guy.

Naruto dived under water. He had no choice. Still swimming so, so fast, propelling himself with his strong legs, he was surprised by his train of thought. He was still thinking about Sasuke. The Akatsuki wanted him too. His maker. Naruto felt protective for some reason. He didn't understand it. Instincts, maybe.

Had Sasuke gone through something like this before because of the Akatsuki? Had he been shot? Had he escaped? Had he been scared and vulnerable? Somehow, Naruto hated the thought of that happening.

Soon enough, all thoughts left his mind, as he needed to breathe again. So he came out of the water and again his lungs were filled with air, so he could dive in once more. He was hurt from the daylight hitting him straight in the face. He could only hope that would heal fast enough.

Naruto was swimming so damn fast. He had never thought it was actually possible to swim this fast. Then again he wasn't human anymore. So he supposed that explained it. In any case, he was glad. Plus no one seemed to be pursuing him. There were boats in the distance, signs of life. He wasn't that far from the shore. He could barely feel his legs and arms due to the cold but they kept obeying him anyway, moving so, so fast, and like he was the most skilled swimmer in the world even though he had never done this outside of a gym's swimming pool before.

He eventually reached a beach. It was so early in the morning so everything was quiet. Besides it was way too cold for anyone to come here this time of year. Shaking, trembling, panting, and still coughing water, Naruto made a run for it. Everything was like a bad dream. All of this, since the very beginning, since he had met Hinata back home, had been like a long, horrible nightmare.

Finding shelter under the trees, he sat against a large trunk and curled up on himself, hugging his knees. He just wanted to feel safe. The light was still there. It sneaked through the trees and hurt him every time. His skin was red and sensitive all over, like a really bad sunburn. Wasn't there a place where he could feel safe?

No… not somewhere, but someone. Sasuke. The next instants were strange. It was as if his subconscious took over. He screamed out Sasuke's name, though no sound came out of his lips. It was the equivalent of screaming at the top of his lungs, but with his mind. Well there was a connection between them; that he couldn't deny any longer. But would that really work?

Well even though he had doubts, he still kept thinking Sasuke's name over and over like a mantra. He couldn't stop. He hated to admit, but he needed him. He was alone, and he had no one else.

…

Kurenai couldn't tell him anything pertinent about Shino, and neither could Asuma or Ino. All they knew was that he was a nice guy, a bit dorky, and he liked to collect and study insects. Very helpful information. Apparently they had known him since forever and never suspected a thing. In fact, they were offended that Suigetsu and Sasuke even dared suspect him. In other words, that conversation was leading absolutely nowhere.

Until dawn, Sasuke and Suigetsu were out looking for Naruto everywhere, from the city to the least frequented areas. They found themselves in dark, dangerous spots but couldn't be bothered with humans anyway. Sasuke was just trying to detect Naruto's presence. But they had no luck and soon needed to head back toward Kurenai's home.

This town – this country, or even continent – was depressing. Sasuke wished he could just go back to Japan. His home, originally, was England. But he had lived in Japan for so long now. It was where he felt most at peace. He wished he could be there with Naruto to help him out through becoming a vampire. Sasuke wanted to take Naruto to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and all the other great cities, the small islands, everywhere. They could travel together while he taught him everything. And if Naruto wanted to visit more of the world then they could move on to another country, then another. Perhaps it was just some silly maker's instinct but that was how he felt. He wanted to make him discover everything.

Naruto had sort of just happened in his life, so very recently. There had been absolutely no way to expect it. But now Sasuke found himself craving his presence, like he had been missing something before without even knowing it.

And now they were stuck in some country he didn't know, with Kiba's friends as their only protection and hideout. What a joke. They hadn't been hiding from the enemy. Suigetsu was always around and Sasuke wasn't even sure he could trust him yet. And now Shino was an enemy too. Enemies were everywhere. They could never be safe. They should have stayed in Japan. Changing locations was pointless when the enemy was on top of the world. It had been foolish to think otherwise.

The city was slowly beginning to wake up when they reached their safe house. Suigetsu had to stand under the rooftop to be safe from the sun. Sasuke wanted to stay outside just a little longer. The pale sunlight tingled rather than hurt. He was so powerful and resistant after centuries of being a vampire. Sometimes he liked to stay out in the sun just for a few moments.

"You a masochist or something?" Suigetsu raised a brow. "Your skin's gonna get red. That would be a shame."

"Just go inside Suigetsu," Sasuke replied, annoyed. He didn't even bother looking at him.

"Suit yourself…" And with that Suigetsu disappeared in the house.

It was a few seconds later that Sasuke felt it. Although weak and faraway, a distinct voice called for his help.

A whisper escaped Sasuke's lips. "Naruto…"

Closing his eyes and frowning slightly, Sasuke concentrated with his sharp supernatural senses, letting his long black hair be blown softly by the cold wind. He could feel where Naruto was, if his senses didn't betray him. He started running, opening his eyes, letting his feet take him there in an incredible speed, uncaring that humans might see him. They would ignore it. Humans usually ignored what they couldn't explain.

That was an unusually strong spiritual power Naruto was using. Calling him like that, from a long distance wasn't the most surprising thing. The fact that Naruto had actually thrown his powers into that call, so that Sasuke could _feel_ his presence and detect his location, was rather amazing. Not all vampires could do such a thing, no matter how old or powerful. Some were simply more skilled than others at telepathy.

As he got closer and closer, Sasuke started feeling Naruto's pain and despair. So he ran even faster. He got to the bunch of trees where Naruto was hiding – it was too small to even be called a forest or woods – nearby a small beach. He found the eighteen year old curled up on himself in the shade of a tree, holding himself. He was a total mess, dark clothes ripped off and blond hair all tangled and hiding his eyes. He was injured all over, although it didn't seem to be more than sun burns, cuts, scrapes and bruises. He was trembling so badly. Sasuke didn't know what to do. He put one knee down and hesitantly brought a hand closer to Naruto's fragile body.

His own skin hurt a bit from running out in the sun but he couldn't be bothered. The light didn't reach here, for now. They were safe. He just wanted to know what had happened to Naruto. When he finally pressed his hand to his shoulder, he flinched. But Sasuke kept his hand there and slowly Naruto calmed down. But he was still shaky, like he was really cold. Sasuke realized his clothes and hair were damp.

"Hey… you're gonna be okay. Just… what the hell happened?"

"A-After the club… I got lost and…" He started hesitantly, in a weak, rasp voice. He curled up on himself even more, pressing his face into his arms, like he wanted to sink into the damp ground and disappear. The wind made him shiver.

"And what? " Sasuke asked.

Naruto wasn't answering and he got impatient. He knew he shouldn't, especially not when Naruto was already so troubled, but he reached out to read his mind. He saw everything like Naruto was telling him the story with images. He saw Shino attacking him, breaking his arms. He heard the gunshots and felt Naruto's pain. He saw the scene in the plane and the escape. He felt everything that Naruto felt in the water and all the way to here.

"Fuck, Naruto… I told you to stay close to me… None of this would've happened if…"

Wrong move. Naruto was suddenly filled with anger and frustration. He smacked Sasuke's hand away and jumped to his feet. He stepped away only to stop again, leaning against a tree. He couldn't go any further because he wouldn't be protected by the shade any longer.

Without looking at Sasuke, he asked, "Is that why you saved me? So I had to stay close to you at all times, like a fucking leash dog? Huh? Cause… I'm not sure I want this life…"

Despite his harsh words, anger seemed to be seeping out of him. He closed his eyes and bloody tears rolled down his cheeks. Clearly he was exhausted. The wind created an opening in the leaves and the light hit Naruto's face and he flinched in pain. Immediately Sasuke was next to him, holding him in his arms, protecting him from the hurtful light. Naruto gave in. His body went weak and he leaned into Sasuke, pressing himself closer, squeezing his eyes shut. Everything was quiet. There was nothing but the wind. Sasuke entangled his long pale fingers in Naruto's tangled hair. Mixed in with the smell unique to Naruto, which Sasuke loved so much, there was the smell of the sea and the scent of other vampires' blood.

"We'll go to a hotel…"

"What?" Naruto whispered in his chest without looking up.

"I don't want to go back to Kurenai's. It's not safe. We can't trust anyone. Just each other, all right? And well… I guess we can trust Shikamaru and Kiba. But that's it. So… I'm going to rent us a hotel room and then I'll get us plane tickets 'cause I don't like it here. We're leaving and we'll… find a place where we… where you can be safe."

"Is there really such a place?" Naruto slowly pulled away, composing himself. He wiped his eyes and flipped his bangs out of his face. Looking at Sasuke's shirt, where his tears had left stains, he made a face.

Sasuke didn't know what to answer to that, actually. Eventually, he said, "If not… I'll just kill them."

Their eyes met. "What?"

"I'll kill the Akatsuki. All of them."

"Look I don't know much but um… I know enough to tell you what you're saying makes no sense. So good luck with that and… send me a postcard from hell."

"I will," Sasuke tilted his head, a hint of a smile on his lips. "At least you won't be stuck with me anymore. Since you hate it so much, that would be a relief for you."

Naruto just looked at him, hesitating. He still looked tired but it seemed he had regained his senses for the most part. His eyes were clear. At least his skin wasn't red anymore. His wounds were slowly healing. He stood straight, just a few inches shorter than Sasuke. He had a certain elegance, truth be told, even now, despite the ragged appearance. A beauty that no one could take away from him. Naruto's eyes were a deep, dark blue. His eyelashes and eyebrows were as blond as his hair and his skin a pure, pale gold, almost ethereal – very vampire like. His lips were full, his traits delicate but not too much. His jaw was defined and his body was stunning; thin, athletic, slim and graceful. Yet he would always have that boyish look, since he was only eighteen years old. Sasuke realized he desired him so badly.

"Well we're stuck here now, that's for sure," Naruto finally said, clearing his throat. His voice sounded better now, recovering from swallowing all that salty water earlier. Sasuke almost cringed at the thought; mustn't have been very pleasant.

Looking up briefly he chuckled. "Yeah." Indeed the sun was quite intense. Even in the shade it was annoying. In those circumstances, the cold wind was only soothing.

Naruto ran his fingers through his hair and looked away. "Look, you're not that bad. I didn't mean it… like that. I just want… I don't know I don't want to live my whole life with assholes like that trying to kill me. I don't know how you do it."

"Well they were always around but they were never that annoying. I guess… I guess I broke one more rule and it was one too many."

"Don't you dare try putting this on me!" Naruto exclaimed with accusing eyes studying Sasuke's face. He was actually intimidating when he wanted to. Well, almost.

"I'm not. It's my fault, but I don't regret it. Not one bit." He leaned closer to Naruto. What? They were stuck. Naruto had said so himself. Might as well find something to do until the stupid, annoying sun came down.

"What're you doing?" Naruto swallowed hard and backed away until he hit the same tree he was leaning on earlier.

Sasuke leaned even closer and glancing down, he took Naruto's hand in his. Naruto held his breath and looked at him.

"I guess I was just lucky enough that Hinata has really good taste. I like you…"

"Thought you liked Suigetsu," he replied. He tried to pull his hand back but Sasuke held on to it, and now their hips were almost touching, and so were their lips.

"I don't. That was just to mess with you."

"You like me?" Naruto raised a thin, pale brow and scoffed. "What's there to like?"

"Teenagers these days and their low self-esteem…" Sasuke teased.

"That's not what I meant! You just… You don't even know me, so how could you say that?"

"I know you're an adorable baby vampire and you're mine, and you got away from Akatsuki all by yourself. I was worried about you…" he smiled teasingly, biting his lip with one fang. "Now I'm proud of you. I wanna… reward you."

"Are you still drunk or what?" Naruto said but his voice sounded weak. They were so, so close.

"No… I told you, you bring out that side of me."

"Sasuke, don't."

He tilted his head, just about to kiss him. Even though Naruto protested, he wasn't pulling away.

"Oh come on, you know you want it."

"I know this. If you ever call me an adorable baby vampire again, just one more time, I will kill you. I don't care if you're my maker or a thousand years old or whatever bullshit… I _will_… kill you."

Oh, this was rich. Sasuke smiled, like, genuinely smiled. "I'd like to see you try."


End file.
